Independent café and deli group Filmore & Union has exceeded its fundraising target by £430k after receiving substantial interest in its healthy eating concept on Crowdcube.
Adele Carnell, who heads up the group, told M&C it was extending the investment period to allow more people to become involved after it exceeded its £500k target within the initial 45 day period.
The largest single investment was £150k and Carnell had said the target was capped at £1m.
The group launched the £500k pitch via Crowdcube in June with the goal of growing its estate to 30 in the next five years.
Carnell said: “We can’t believe we’ve managed to overfund by such a large amount – the response from customers and investors from across the country has been overwhelming and we want to thank everyone for their support during our journey so far.
“The majority of our investment has come from our customers which we are so honoured by and can’t wait to open up more Filmore & Unions across the region to meet their requests.
“Overfunding has meant we are able to speed up our growth which hopefully means investors will see a return quicker than planned.”
Over the next three years, the company’s turnover is expected to increase by £3.8m with their profit set to rise by 207%.
It has invested heavily in a central production kitchen, warehouse and head office in Wetherby to cater for up to 30 satellite sites in the area.
The additional funding will allow Filmore & Union to accelerate its opening schedule. It is opening a site in Ilkley next week followed by restaurants in Harrogate at the end of this month, Beverley in September, and extending its Wetherby restaurant, also scheduled for September.
