Coffee specialists Grind launch £1.5m bond issue Crowdcube campaign

Grind, the independent coffee and cocktail group behind Shoreditch Grind, Soho Grind, Holborn Grind and London Grind, has launched a bond issue via crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, seeking £1.5m investment to fund expansion in the UK and take control of its supply chain.

Founded by entrepreneur David Abrahamovitch and musician Kaz James four years ago, Shoreditch Grind aimed to provide London with a coffee experience similar to the quality that could be found in Kaz’s hometown, Melbourne.

After seeing rapid growth, Shoreditch established itself as a big player in London’s “third-wave” coffee boom.

Following an investment from John Ayton, the founder of jewellery brand Links of London and Diarmid Ogilvy, who is also a private equity professional, Grind was able to expand and opened Soho Grind, with a basement cocktail bar, Holborn Grind, at The new Hoxton Hotel, and the flagship London Grind, the first site with a full restaurant.

Today, Grind operates four spaces in London, and is opening a fifth site in Covent Garden this summer.

In order to achieve significant growth, Grind is looking to the Crowdcube investment platform to help finance the opening of a state-of-the-art roastery, which will enable it to in-source its custom blend.

The roastery project, which will be based in east London, will also feature a central kitchen servicing all sites, as well as a sixth Grind coffee shop, cocktail bar and restaurant. Roasting its own coffee will give Grind more control, improve margins and open up further wholesale and retail opportunities.

The ‘Grind Bond’ issue will allow investors to share in the success of the duo’s business.

The mini-bond will offer investors an 8% annual interest rate paid quarterly over four years. Additionally, every investor will be rewarded with a special ‘Investor Card’ loaded with complimentary coffees and cocktails, and any investment above £5k will receive free coffees and cocktails for the lifetime of the bond, plus an invite to a commemorative Bond party.

Anyone investing more than £10k will get free coffees or cocktails every week, and those investing over of £25k will be awarded with one of the hallowed, money-can’t-buy Grind ‘Red Cards’, usually reserved for celebrities, that entitles you to a free coffee or cocktail every single day for the lifetime of the bond.

David Abrahamovitch, Grind founder and CEO, said: “Since that first day in 2011, it’s been the support of our customers that has driven us to where we are today, and we knew we had to allow them to fund our next stage of growth. Grind has always been about doing things our own way, and a little differently, and this fresh, democratic approach to fundraising really resonated with us.”

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, commented: “Grind already has four sites in prime locations across London, so it’s great that its existing customers and advocates can be part of the company’s future plans to expand across the UK. Businesses from the food and beverage sector are usually very popular with our crowd of 175,000 investors, so we’re pleased to be able to offer people the opportunity to invest in the Grind Bond.”