Cheshire restaurant Sticky Walnut reaches £100k target for new site

Cheshire restaurant Sticky Walnut has reached its target to raise £100,000 in 30 days, in a bid to open sister restaurant, Burnt Truffle.

Chef Gary Usher and his team set up an online fundraising page via website Kickstarter, which allowed members of the public to pledge from £10-£5,000 to add towards the £100,000 total. The team also shot a video in the restaurant - with graphic designer Dan Burns - featuring the team, showcasing Usher's trademark comically-rude, "shambolic" style.

On Kickstarter, only funds that reach their goal amount in pledges actually receive the money at the end of the selected amount of time.

Usher's page received over £24,000 in the first 24 hours of being set up, but the funds had slowed down by mid-month. However, a renewed push via microblogging site Twitter - including via high-profile chefs and critics such as Guardian journalist Marina O'Loughlin - saw the group reach its total this weekend.

Usher has so far raised £101,725, from a total of 855 backers, at the time of writing.

As is customary on Kickstarter and similar fundraising sites, each individual to pledge receives a reward depending on how much they contribute. Sticky Walnut rewards included a thank you note, your name on the new restaurant's ‘wall of fame', lunch or dinner at the new site for a varying amount of people, a master class, and a private three-course dinner for up to 50 people.

Usher, who runs the Sticky Walnut twitter account, and has been retweeting, thanking, and pushing the campaign forward each day, has thanked his team for "putting up with him" and also thanked everyone online who had pledged and helped to spread the word.

He wrote: "You have helped me and the Sticky team do something that was only a dream a few months ago. When we open, it will be because of you."

Sticky Walnut first opened in 2010, and quickly won praise for its simple yet accomplished style. Usher previously worked at Chez Bruce, Jamie's Italian, and Chapter One.

Sticky Walnut itself won the Menu of the Year Catey award in 2013, catered for the 2014 Cateys, and was named AA Restaurant of the Year 2014-15.

Burnt Truffle is set to be Sticky Walnut's sister restaurant, and the second site for the existing team. There is no definite timeline as yet but Usher has previously suggested that the new venue could be ready by April 2015.

Sticky Walnut chef raises over £24k in under 24 hours for new site >>

Star for the night: Sticky Walnut's Gary Usher on the Cateys 2014 menu >>