Grater things: The Cheese Bar smashes crowdfund campaign

The restaurant, which started life as a street food truck, reached its target of £200,000 on the final day of its Crowdcube campaign. It will use the money to open a second site in Covent Garden ahead of plans to launch four more sites before 2021.

Founder Mathew Carver has left the campaign open for one extra day to allow any last minute investors to buy a share of the business, having raised £200,650 from 380 investors at present.

Besides a percentage ownership of the company, investors had the opportunity to pick up rewards from a range including free meals or private catered Cheese Bar events, varying with size of investment.

The restaurant launched its permanent 50-cover Camden site off the back of a £40k overfunded crowdfund campaign. This time around, it will be using the funds to launch a two-storey restaurant serving a menu of cheese-based plates and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Dishes will include the likes of smoked mozzarella sticks with chilli jam; Mayfield gougeres; chicken poutine with crispy sage; and blue cheese raclette with salt beef and crispy leeks.
Founder Carver’s signature grilled cheese sandwiches will also be on the menu, including a stilton, bacon and pear chutney sandwich; and a sweeter option made with goats cheese, honey and walnut.

Since opening, The Cheese Bar Camden site has reported profit of £34k, and year two has seen a 20% increase in year-on-year sales.