Silo launches fundraiser to open Fermentation Factory

The founder of zero-waste restaurant Silo in London’s Hackney has launched a £10,000 Kickstarter campaign to support the opening of a Fermentation Factory.

Chef Douglas McMaster worked in the kitchens of St John and Noma before establishing his own zero-waste concept Wasted in Sydney in 2011.

He returned to the UK to open Silo in Brighton in 2014, which he moved to London’s Hackney Wick in 2019 in partnership with Crate Brewery, following a £500,000 crowdfund.

To celebrate Silo’s tenth anniversary, McMaster is once again collaborating with Crate Brewery to open a new site dedicated to cultivating commercial quantities of koji (a fermentation starter), ‘zero soy sauce’ made from Silo’s waste bread, and miso made from spent beer grains.  

The Fermentation Factory will be headed by Ryan Walker (pictured), head of fermentation and research and development at Silo, with the aim of enabling other hospitality businesses to reduce waste using Silo’s methods.

It is due to open in an abandoned nightclub in Hackney Wick later this summer.

A selection of rewards will be available to those who donate, ranging from a koji starter pack (£10) to a group tour of the Fermentation Factory (£100).

Writing on the Kickstarter, the Silo team said: “We are proud to have a decade of experience sharing knowledge, feeding our wonderful Silo guests and inspiring countless others in their zero-waste efforts. We are so appreciative of your ongoing support and hope you will join us for the next decade of innovation.”

Click here to donate to the Kickstarter.