Member Article

Speciality coffee company launches Seedrs campaign to support growth

London-based speciality coffee company, CRU Kafe has announced plans to raise £300k investment via crowdfunding platform Seedrs to support business growth.

Created by entrepreneurial coffee enthusiast, Colin Pyle, chef John Quilter and former model and LSE Graduate, Bodil Blain in 2013, CRU Kafe offers organic and Fairtrade coffee packaged inside eco-friendly, Nespresso compatible pods and delivered direct to customers’ doors.

CRU Kafe was born out of a desire to have great coffee at home that was ethical and easy to make. Co-­founder Colin has successfully built, scaled and lead four companies prior to co­founding CRU Kafe, having sold his first company for 5 million CAD.

John, a restaurateur, has a joint venture with Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube, where he appears regularly as the Food Busker.

CRU Kafe takes a technology lead approach to business through leveraging offline and online to curate a social platform that sells coffee. Utilising video content CRU Kafe engages customers on their mobile friendly website and creates value for their monthly subscribers by offering resources that its competitors don’t, including an extensive bank of recipes.

CRU Kafe currently distribute product to The UAE, Kuwait, Ireland and Norway.

In the UK CRU Kafe is stocked within selected retail outlets including Harrods, Partridges, Whole Foods, Jamie Oliver’s Recipease and the Grocer (Notting Hill & Chelsea) as well as online at Ocado and grow by 15% in terms of sales month on month.

With a £300,000 investment CRU Kafe aim to stabilise their working capital and focus upon customer acquisition via print media and TV.

Founding partner John Quilter commented: “Here at CRU we’re thrilled to be rolling out what we believe to be the best way to enjoy the finest quality ‘home brew’ coffee available. We firmly believe that taste should not be sacrificed in the name of convenience.

“In particular we have always felt that the entire pre-packaged coffee pod process could be done in a more thoughtful and earth friendly way, which is why we use a fully recyclable pod to house our exceptional blend.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .