The Hart brothers reached their £750,000 crowdfunding target in just two hours to finance their biggest Barrafina yet, in Kings Cross.
The campaign launched to the restaurant's subscribers two days ago and has today gone live to the public. By 11.30am the amount raised had reached £1.6m from 372 investors.
The group today said: "When Harts Group (parent company of Barrafina and Quo Vadis) launched our exclusive 48-hour pre-sale to subscribers two days ago, we were confident that our offer was strong. We were bowled over though, when we reached our target of £750,000 in just two hours!
"We are now fully live and overfunding. We hope you will join us in becoming one of the family.
"We are raising finance to open our biggest Barrafina yet at the hotly anticipated Coal Drops Yard development in King's Cross, this October. Your new Barrafina will have 34 seats at the bar, a private dining room for 20 and a weather-proof outdoor terrace with its own new and unique menu.
"This is the first time we have ever offered Harts Group equity to outside investors, as well as some delicious and very fun perks."
The Harts Group, led by brothers Sam and James Hart and Crispin Somerville, plans to open Barrafina's fourth site in Coal Drops Yard in October this year. Alongside it will be a Casa Pastor, a Mexican ‘big sister' to El Pastor in Borough Market, and The Drop wine bar.
Coal Drops Yard is a former Victorian coal store that has been regenerated by Heatherwick Studio. It combines a contemporary design with the surviving grand brick viaducts, ironwork and cobbled streets.
Sam Hart said: "This is an incredibly exciting project for Harts Group. When we saw the site plans we immediately fell in love with Coal Drops and since then we have been relentlessly planning how to create amazing places specific to the area.
"We are progressing these with enthusiasm and look forward to opening in October."
The Harts Group of restaurants comprises five London outlets: three Barrafina sites, Quo Vadis in Soho and and the El Pastor taqueria in Borough Market.
Earlier this month the Hart brothers' restaurant group reported a return to profit in the 12 months to 31 July 2017, after being hit by "one-off exceptional expenses" the previous year.
To register your interest in the campaign go to: www.barrafina.co.uk/invest-in-harts-group
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