Chuku's launches 'six week charge' as it fights to avoid closure

28-Oct-2022 - Last updated on 28-Oct-2022 at 15:21 GMT

Related tags Chuku's African cuisine London Inflation Closure

The founders of Nigerian restaurant Chuku’s in London's Tottenham have launched a campaign to take 100 bookings a week for the next six weeks, in a bid to avoid closure.

Announcing the start of the campaign earlier today (28 October) via Instagram, siblings Ifeyinwa and Emeka Frederick, who opened Chuku's little more than a month before the first Coronavirus lockdown in 2020, called on their fans to book a table and help them avoid the prospect of having to close the restaurant in the near future.

"The reason we're launching the Chuku's six week charge is because things are tough," said Ifeyinwa. "We've done well to get this far, but as it stands we cannot promise that if things stay as they are that we'll still be here in 2023."

Ifeyinwa and Emeka were frank about the challenges facing the restaurant, noting recent data from CGA and AlixPartners that revealed Britain’s licensed sector saw a net decline of one closure every hour in the third quarter of 2022.

Emeka said: "Things have been a real struggle. It's been a superb challenge this last year. This time last year we had a crisis in our team with horrendous staffing shortages. There's been all manner of things, and the restaurant hasn't been the bustling, bubbly place it was when we first opened in 2020.

"It just hasn't got back to that sort of energy."

The siblings originally established Chuku's as a supper club and launched their first site in Tottenham following a successful crowdfund campaign.

Billed as London’s ‘first and only’ Nigerian tapas restaurant, the concept is defined by its mantra of ‘chop (Nigerian pidgin for eat), chat, chill’ and serves a menu of small plates inspired by Ifeyinwa and Emeka's upbringing and their subsequent travels in Nigeria.

Ifeyinwa added that if the campaign is successful, it should help get the restaurant back to where it needs to be financially.

"We want to continue our celebration of Nigerian culture," she said. "We believe you want to continue having the restaurant to chop, chat, chill in. We're asking you to book a table and join the charge, so that we can keep delivering the Chuku's experience that you love."

The Chuku's six week charge launches on Monday 31 October and runs until Sunday 11 December. To find out more, click here.