Grind secured £2.3m CBIL loan to help survive the pandemic

Coffee chain Grind took out a £2.3m Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL) to help it survive the pandemic, documents show.

Accounts for the year ended 30 April 2021 show Grind used the government-backed loan to support staff and cover costs while its sites had to at least partially close.

Pre-tax losses at Grind Holdings Ltd, the parent company for the group's cafes, retail and wholesale coffee arm, widened from £1.7m during the previous 12 months to £2.5m while turnover dropped from £12m to £8.2m.

Grind was founded in Shoreditch in 2011 by David Abrahamovitch and Kaz James and now runs eight café-bars and restaurants in London.

In August 2021 the company raised £22m investment off the back of strong sales of its at-home coffee products during the pandemic. The funding, led by entrepreneur Richard Koch, the first investor in Betfair, will be used to grow its coffee pod business in the UK and expand in the US and Europe from this year.

Writing in its accounts, Abrahamovitch said Grind’s high street restaurants remain an ‘integral part’ of its strategy going forwards but growth was expected to come 'primarily' from the online business.