Chishuru launches crowdfund for new Oxford Circus opening
Due to the popularity of the previous Brixton location, more than £9k funding has already been raised after 36 hours
Award-winning West African restaurant Chishuru has launched a crowdfunding page to help raise money for a new opening in central London.
Drawing from her Nigerian heritage, chef and founder Joké Bakare opened the restaurant in 2020 in a 32-cover location in Brixton Village which was originally supposed to only last for three months but after receiving positive reviews it became permanent.
It was awarded the number one spot as 2022 restaurant of the year by Time Out and in 2021 it won the Eater London Awards. But despite the popularity, in October 2022 the site closed down because the location in Brixton had become too small and the hunt for a bigger place began.
Now, Bakare has found a new site closer to central London, just around the corner of Oxford Circus tube station and has recently started a crowdfunding page to help with the costs of the new location. After less than two days, the restaurant managed to already raise more than £9k funding.
Matt Paice, spokesperson for Chishuru, commented: “Joké has just done two very successful pop ups in the West End – one at 180 The Corner and the other at Carousel on Charlotte St – so we feel that central London is the right place for the restaurant to be.
“We also have had good interest from US media, so we want to be easily accessible to American visitors.”
In order to raise their £75,000 goal, the crowdfunding campaign offers different options to customers that want to contribute to Chishuru’s reopening, such as paying to put the donor’s name on the ‘founder’s wall’, buying a lunch or dinner for two and there is even the option to buy a cooking class with the chef.
Speaking on the crowdfunding idea, Paice said: “For a restaurant business, crowdfunding in this way – where for the bulk of the raise we are selling lunches and dinners in advance – is a highly effective and low-cost way of raising money.
“Moreover, when customers visit to redeem their perks, they’ll also likely buy drinks, which means even with pre-bought meals we get some more margin on the day.”
The new site will be much larger, with two floors and an open kitchen which will enable Bakare and her team to use a wider range of cooking techniques and offer a much more extensive wine list, with a focus on French wines.
On the crowdfunding page, Paice said that despite the current challenges brought by food price inflation, he is confident that their business model will be able to endure.
He concluded: “We had lots of regulars in Brixton and we’re hoping to see them at the new site, and of course some new customers too.”
