Filmore & Union is continuing its expansion in Yorkshire before moving to Cheshire and nationwide adding five sites each year, founder Adele Carnell told M&C Report.
The company launched a £500k crowdfunding pitch yesterday with the goal of growing its estate to 30 in the next five years.
Carnell said she wants to the growth to remain organic and manageable to ensure the ethos of the brand is not diluted and opted for crowdfunding as opposed to traditional fundraising options to maintain control of the model.
Carnell said: “We are very focused on the ethos of our brand and having spoken to investors we felt they would change a few things but we know our model already works and they might want to open in areas that would put us under quite a lot of pressure – we want to grow organically and manageably.”
She added Crowdcube was attractive as people can invest small or larger amounts: “As a family brand we did not want to exclude the smaller investors.”
To reach the target of 30 sites, Filmore & Union will open an average of five sites each year with four/five planned for this year and five/six planned for next year while building the infrastructure along the way.
The company currently operate a centralised production unit in Wetherby, which Carnell said can serve a further 25 sites.
“The focus is on Yorkshire before Cheshire. We would love to go down to London but for now we are a Yorkshire brand and know there are more opportunities here.”
To maintain the ethos of the brand, Carnell said there is a very particular recruitment process and talent is grown from within to ensure a supply of managers for the growing estate.
The largest site to date is due to open later this year in Harrogate which will be followed by Ilkely and Beverley and another site currently under offer.
Meanwhile, Carnell has launched a catering brand for weddings and events as well as looking at a branded range of Filmore & Union retail products.
The company launched its first healthy-eating restaurant and takeaway site in Low Petergate in 2012 and now has seven sites across Yorkshire.
