Chilango, the Mexican restaurant group, has secured funding to enable three restaurant openings this year and more sites in 2015 after exceeding its £1m crowd-funding target.
The company launched a “Burrito Bond” through online platform CrowdCube on 9 June; to date it has raised £1,191,500 from 362 investors.
Eric Partaker, co-founder of Chilango, told M&C Report: “We smashed the million pound target in less than three weeks and there are still 33 days left in the campaign. We are at almost £1.2m and our plan is to continue fundraising and see where we get to.”
“The financing is secured for the next three new sites and the excess will be dedicated to our pipeline of openings in 2015.”
Sites in Camden and Soho are both currently being fitted out for opening later this year and a third new site is in advanced legals.
“I expected it to be successful because I’m confident in the brand and the offering. I’m very very pleased with the results, it’s 362 people who have given a thumbs up to the brand.”
“I’m extremely excited and proud that we’ve spearheaded a fundraising option that will increase flexibility for restaurant companies,” Partaker said.
The mini bonds are available in increments of £500 for a four year period with an 8% annual return as well as offering free burritos to investors.
Chilango was the first restaurant to be offering a mini bond through a crowd-funded third party platform, it was closely followed by River Cottage which raised its £1m target in less than three days.
