Mr Usher, who opened Wreckfish in Liverpool last year after raising £200,000, will launch his fifth outlet called Pinion after hitting his latest cash target in just 60 minutes. Tony McDonough reports
Leading chef and restaurateur Gary Usher is to open another Merseyside restaurant after his latest crowdfunding campaign hit its £50,000 target in just 60 minutes.
Last year, Mr Usher launched his Liverpool city centre Wreckfish restaurant thanks to a successful record £200,000 crowdfunding drive.
Earlier this week he kicked off another crowdfunding campaign – aiming to raise £50,000 to open his fifth restaurant called Pinion in Prescot in Knowsley. And he hit the target within an hour.
A teasing his Twitter followers for over a month with a series of short videos he launched the fund-raising drive and within 15 minutes, £16,000 was pledged by more than 200 investors. The figure exceeded £31,000 within 30 minutes. The full £50,000 was raised from a total of 660 backers.
Mr Usher said: “Looking in on this it could look quite nuts, but this Kickstarter didn’t – although technically, it actually did – just happen overnight.
“I don’t think it’s as simple as saying ‘oh I’m going to kickstart a restaurant’ – a lot of our supporters have been with us for years, and we really feel as if we’ve opened our last three restaurants together.
“I said I wanted this crowdfunding to be completely transparent so that it was a recipe that anyone could then just take & replicate somewhere else. But I think I was wrong.
“There’s no recipe. There’s no handbook. It’s about the people that support and believe in you.”
Pinion’s menu will feature freshly baked bread and “humble” bistro dishes, such as a beef braise with truffle and parmesan chips and a classic tart for dessert. Pinion will be very much in the same style as Mr Usher’s other restaurants; Sticky Walnut in Chester, Burnt Truffle in Heswall, Wreckfish in Liverpool and Hispi in Manchester.