Gary Usher to crowdfund £50,000 for third bistro Hispi

14 January 2016 by
Gary Usher to crowdfund £50,000 for third bistro Hispi

Chef Gary Usher is to launch a new £50,000 crowdfunding campaign to help fund his third site, Hispi Bistro, which is set to open in Chorlton, south Manchester in summer this year.

The news comes just days after Usher first confirmed the site's new name via Twitter, on which he maintains a tongue-in-cheek presence. The Chorlton opening will be third for the group, after the original 40-cover Sticky Walnut in Chester, and 100-cover Burnt Truffle in Heswall, Wirral.

It also follows the success of Usher's £100,000 crowdfunding bid for his second site, which in 2014 - also via a funny video and many Tweets â€' managed to amass over £24,000 in just 24 hours, and exceeded the top target in just 30 days.

Despite his previous success with crowdfunding, Usher admitted that he genuinely feared the new bid would fail, but called the last bid "the best and worst time of my life". He added: "I don't care if [the bid] fails because it creates so much love for the new place", referring to the popularity and buzz that the last funding push generated online.

He also said that he would actually need "five times" £50,000 to open properly, and would also be seeking bank input.

Usher has confirmed that Hispi will be a 60-cover restaurant serving "neighbourhood bistro grub", along similar lines to the group's existing sites, including fresh bread, Sunday roast meats, "some kind of sticky braised meat", cheesy truffle chips, and a wide range of baked fruit tarts.

Speaking to The Caterer today about the new site, Usher said: "I feel like I'm about to experience all the same absolute mayhem as I did with the first two! In all honesty, it's like a drug. It's the buzz of the stress and excitement and completely not knowing what you're doing. I love it at this stage because people ask me questions about elements of the new business and I don't always know the answer so I have no choice but to either work it out there and then or make it up."

Writing on Twitter, Usher joked: "I really want Hispi to be a true expression of my passion for the art of cooking…[actually] I don't, I just want another cosy neighbourhood bistro."

The extra details of the third opening come less than a year after Burnt Truffle opened its doors in spring 2015, while Sticky Walnut first opened in 2011.

Sticky Walnut's Gary Usher unveils new restaurant Burnt Truffle >>

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

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

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