Michelin-starred Matt Gillan launches crowdfunding campaign for Redroaster: Matt Gillan, who won a Michelin star at South Lodge Hotel in West Sussex and won the main course section of Great British Menu two years ago, has launched a £80,000 crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for his new coffee house-by-day-and-restaurant-in the evening project in Kemptown, Brighton, opening in partnership with former Mitchells & Butlers executive Mike Palmer. The coffee shop element, Redroaster, opens on 17 February with the restaurant, Pike & Pine, following two weeks later. The pitch states: “Over the course of 16 years, Redroaster has become a Brighton institution. It was one of the first specialty coffee houses in the country and is Brighton’s oldest roastery. In 2016 we took over the business, with a view to bringing Redroaster back to the forefront of people’s minds while retaining the connection to the community. At the same time we wanted to give it a new lease of life and make it feel as though you hadn’t stepped back in time. Although we have acquired the site and business, we have had to delay a portion of our project. We are looking to raise funds to help us with phase two – the garden and roastery. Behind Redroaster we have a great space and are also looking to secure the garden space next door, that runs behind the retail units on St James’s Street. Our vision for the garden is to create a focal point at the back of Redroaster with an area that merges indoors and outdoors. An indoor garden/outdoor restaurant. All contained within a beautiful atrium/conservatory. By purchasing the additional garden space, it will enable us to create an unprecedented outdoor area within the city. At one end will be the restaurant area, leading into a kitchen garden. This will be used to add interest to the dinner offer at Pike & Pine. We would also look to put a preparation kitchen in the space, which would serve the ‘secret garden’ bar and dining area. We want to create a magical outdoor space in the heart of Kemptown. The funds won’t cover the whole cost of the project but will enable us to start the process of acquiring and purchasing the additional garden space and starting work in our existing garden. Secondly, there is our roastery, which is located one mile away from the cafe, further up the road in Kemptown. Much like the cafe, it is in need of modernisation and refurbishment. This has come to light recently as we are having to turn away possible customers due to having reached our limits with what we are able to supply due to equipment needs and storage space solutions. We would look to use some of the funds to invest in an automated bagging machine. This will allow us to speed up the whole process of bagging our coffee. We currently roast between 150kg to 200kg of coffee per week, which is a lot of coffee to bag. With the time saved by not bagging, we are able to roast closer to our capacity and look to distribute our coffee further a field. We are also looking to redevelop our roastery space. We want to, not only create a more usable space for our roastery operation, but we want to create an environment where people can come to our roastery and spend time with us. Learning about the coffee in a comfortable place. With the first phase of our build project, we’ve encountered all sorts of issues. Consequently, this has had an impact on our reopening time and elements of the project, like the garden. Although this won’t affect our ability to open, the garden is a large part of the reinvention of Redroaster. Our greatest risk is not achieving our target and not being able to complete the vision we set out with. It reduces our ability to offer our product to the number of people we budgeted for, meaning that the work so far, may all be in vein. The amount we are looking to raise may not be enough for us to complete the project on its own. This Kickstarter project is to help us with the legal side of the work we need to do for the garden project and will give us a good head start in funding the rest of the project.”

Glendola Leisure reports boost in turnover and pre-tax profit: Glendola Leisure, which is led by Alex Salussolia and operates Irish brand Waxy O Connor’s, has reported a boost in turnover and pre-tax profit. The company saw turnover increase 15% to £39,095,000 for the year ending 26 March 2016 compared with £33,991,000 the year before. Pre-tax profit was up 12.6% to £2,731,000 compared with £2,425,000 the previous year, according to accounts filed with Companies House. It also agreed a refinancing with the bank during the period in order to complete the acquisition of Saltire Taverns. Glendola Leisure stated: “The group has traded well in a very challenging economic environment, which has seen increased costs and competition. At the beginning of the year it disposed of the Cricketers in Cobham and in early 2016 disposed of Brogans in Fulham, On 31 July 2015 the group acquired 100% of Saltire Taverns, which operates Le Monde and the Angels Share in Edinburgh. Following the result of the rent review that was determined on 10 October 2016 the rent on the Rainforest Cafe increased by 55% from £989,000 to £1,530;000. This meant the business was longer viable and as a consequence the directors sold the business on 9 November 2016 to a third party in order to protect the future employment of the staff. The Rainforest Cafe operated in a subsidiary company The Original Rainforest Cafe. In order to complete the acquisition of Saltire Taverns and to cover future developments and plans, the group completed a refinancing with its existing bankers on 31 July 2015.”

Banana Tree reports turnover and Ebitda boost: Banana Tree Restaurants, led by William and Anne Chow, has reported turnover up 12.5% to £9,008,801 in the year to 31 April 2016. Ebitda rose 62.5% to £1,222,548. Exceptional costs included £157,838 related to an impairment of goodwill related to the incorporation within the company of two sites opened under a partnership and dating to 2010. Other exceptional costs related to a loss on a disposal of a Watford site (£215,397) and an overdue write-off of fixed assets (£69,608). Profit before tax was £480,615 compared with £357,574 the year before. A site was opened In Oxford during the year taking the total to eight.