Independent restaurant group MJMK, whose portfolio includes Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant KOL, saw its £1 million crowdfunding target reached and eclipsed within the first hours of launching.
MJMK’s portfolio also includes chef Nuno Mendes of Lisboeta, and cult Portuguese piri-piri chicken restaurants Casa do Frango.
The London-based group launched the crowdfunding campaign on Friday in order to raise funds for a new concept with chef-partner Santiago Lastra of KOL, reaching its £1m goal in the first hour of launching.
Money raised will also accelerate the expansion of the Casa do Frango restaurants across London, with a fourth site due to open in June 2023 in Victoria.
MJMK broke through the £1 million target prior to going live to the public on Crowdcube — the crowdfunding platform used by the group.
MJMK co-founder Marco Mendes said that the crowdfunding campaign would allow the group to “remain true to the authentic roots of our concepts”.
At time of publishing the group has raised £1,323,080 from 236 investors.
Total gross profit across the 5 sites owned by MJMK was £12.3m in FY22 (site-level EBITDA £2.9m).
All sites are profitable, the parent company claims on its Crowdcube page, with mature sites KOL and Casa do Frango London Bridge generating over £100,000 average weekly sales in the financial year 2022.
Overall company EBITDA was £1.2m in FY22, despite the macroeconomic challenges faced by the industry last year. Sales track ahead of the industry at 19% like-for-like, according to the company.
In other news, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is set to open an upmarket eatery at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, four years after the collapse of his restaurant empire.
The dramatic disintegration of Oliver’s restaurants, including his Jamie’s Italian chain and Fifteen, in 2019 resulted in the redundancy of almost 1,000 staff. Parent company Jamie Oliver Holdings was reportedly left £83 million in debt.
This will be the TV chef’s first opening in London since the collapse.
This article was originally published by the drinks business and has been shared with permission.
