Gary Usher smashes £50,000 crowdfunding target in less than one hour

30 May 2018 by
Gary Usher smashes £50,000 crowdfunding target in less than one hour

Restaurateur Gary Usher has smashed his £50,000 crowdfunding target to get his fifth restaurant Pinion in Prescot, Merseyside, off the ground.

The Kickstarter, which launched at 9pm last night, reached its target in just under 60 minutes and had raised £60,818 from 846 backers by 10:45pm. By this morning the fund had reached nearly £70,000 with investment from nearly 1,000 supporters.

On reaching his target, Usher immediately took to Twitter to thank his backers. "It's overwhelming beyond words," he wrote. "I'm so grateful to have support like this & I don't want anyone to think I take it for granted. It gives me the confidence to know what we're doing is ok. Thank you."

The 55-cover bistro is expected to open this summer. Usher, who featured in The Caterer's Top 100 Most Powerful People in Hospitality, told The Caterer that he hoped Pinion would become part of the regeneration of the area, which had seen a drop in footfall since a shopping complex opened nearby.

It will follow the same style as Usher's other restaurants within his company Elite Bistros: Sticky Walnut in Chester, Burnt Truffle in Heswall on the Wirral, Hispi in Didsbury, Greater Manchester, and Wreckfish in Liverpool.

The money will go toward completely renovating a formerBetfred bookmakers into a restaurant which Usher estimates will require about £125,000. He told The Caterer: "£50,000 doesn't even get close. What it does is it gives us a bit of power for when we do go to the banks to say we have £50,000 backing us. The banks are a lot happier to get behind you when you have a bit of capital at the start."

Rewards for pledges include a name on the founders' wall (£10), meal vouchers to the value of the pledge (£25-£100), two opening night party invitations (£100), masterclasses and lunches at other Elite Bistros sites (£200) and a private home-cooked dinner (£2,000).

Usher opened Sticky Walnut in Hoole, Chester, in 2011. His first Kickstarter campaign for Burnt Truffle secured more than £100,000 from 891 backers and saw the restaurant open in July 2015. Didsbury-based Hispi followed suit, receiving nearly £60,000 in pledges.

In May 2017 Usher raised more than £200,000 from 1,522 backers for his fourth restaurant, Wreckfish, in Liverpool. It is believed to be the most money ever raised for a restaurant through a crowdfunding campaign in the UK.

Exclusive: Gary Usher on his most ambitious Kickstarter yet, launching today >>

Gary Usher to attempt to raise £50,000 in 24 hours for fifth restaurant Pinion >>

Gary Usher announces fifth restaurant Pinion to open in Prescot >>

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking