Gary Usher to launch fresh Kickstarter after equity crowdfund 'fails'
The new Kickstarter will launch next week to raise £200,000, which will go towards the refurbishment of The White Horse pub in Churton, Cheshire, which Usher's Elite Bistros group acquired earlier this year.
However, Usher's further plans, including the addition of B&B bedrooms as part of the pub venture, have been put on hold after the chef restaurateur's first-ever equity crowdfund, which he launched on Seedrs back in August to raise £750,000, 'failed'.
In a video posted on Twitter last night (26 October), Usher was frank about reasons why the Seedrs crowdfund didn't work.
"I've just got it wrong," he said. "Everything from the valuation at the start to the way that I got involved in the project, my naivety towards it all just hasn't helped. I haven't understood it properly and I've just failed.
"I feel a bit embarrassed. I do feel embarrassed that it hasn't worked, but I would have always wanted to do it and if I hadn't done it I would have felt regret. So, I'll probably take embarrassed over regret to be honest. We gave it a go, it hasn't worked."
All those that did invest in the equity crowdfund will be refunded.
Usher, whose restaurants are concentrated in the North West of England, is a pioneer of the crowdfunding model within hospitality, but until the Seedrs campaign had only ever offered users rewards rather than equity, with most of his finance coming from supporters effectively buying their meals in advance.
"I'm really sorry that I've let everyone down with the Seedrs," Usher continued. "But I need to react and I need to crack on, so I'm going to stick to what I know. Next week I'm going to launch a Kickstarter for £200,000 and if we achieve it that is what I will use to refurb the pub."
"So all the plans for B&B bedrooms and stuff, we'll have to put on hold. Love to do it in the future, but what we have to do first is just get the pub open, which we're all ridiculously excited about, and just carry on."
Usher has numerous other plans to help grow the Elite Bistros group, which the equity crowdfund was also intended to help with. They include the development of a new concept called Joya Tapas, and further development of its first product line for retail and commercial sales.
Elite Bistros' centralised production kitchen in Hoole, Chester, already produces and supplies large quantities of red wine jus and gravy to the group's restaurants, but Usher hopes to introduce the product into the B2B commercial retail sector and ultimately into the B2C domestic retail sector in the future.
