Tue 30th Jul 2013 - Champagne bar chain goes crowd-funding route Circle 360 Champagne and cocktail bar owner seeks to raise £100,000 through crowd-funding: Cribbs F&B, the company founded by Craig Ince that operates aspirational 360 Champagne & cocktails bar brand within regional shopping centres, is looking to raise £100,000 in return for 20% of the company’s equity through crowd-funding website Crowdcube. Developed in 2011 by Craig Ince, an experienced bar operator, the 360 pilot site at Intu Trafford Centre, Manchester, delivered significant profits in year one and revenue in year two is on track to increase by at least 20%. On the back of this success, second and third bars at Intu’s Metrocentre, Gateshead and Braehead, Glasgow were launched last year. There are openings lined up at Buchanan Gardens in Glasgow, Trinity Leeds and Lakeside, Essex before the end of the year. The fund-raising is to allow the company to expand its marketing efforts to franchise the brand – although it expects corporate sites to expand to around ten before franchising begins. Although the company wants to expand the brand into the top 20 shopping centres it is also looking at airport and transport hub sites. The company states: “Regional shopping centres offer shoppers “everything under one roof” with an extensive restaurant, cafe and coffee shop offering but the bar offering is poor, usually just a budget pub, completely unsuitable for the majority of female shoppers. 360 exploits the gap in the market by providing a premium, affordable bar. Securing sites in busy centres, where footfall can reach 600,000 visitors per week, is challenging but we have invested over £20,000 to secure an additional three sites for 2013 with many more in the pipeline. Currently there are no franchise champagne and cocktail bar chains in the UK. Existing champagne and cocktail bar operators are fragmented and largely single site operators. 360 have an opportunity to become the dominant champagne and cocktail bar operator within the regional shopping centre arena, if we move quickly.” Investors are told revenue will be generated from two streams – initial franchise fees and franchise royalties. The Crowdcube pitch added: “The company is also able to generate a third, significant revenue stream in the form of landlord incentives. The franchise business model means we can grow rapidly without having to deploy our own capital. We will grow the business in two phases, phase one will be about domestic franchises and phase two will target international growth. We plan to raise £100,000 for a 20% share of the company to fund the promotion of the franchise.” 360 Champagne and cocktail bars sell 20 types of champagne, made-to-order cocktails and barista coffee.