Member Article

Female entrepreneur behind Newcastle clean food cafe plots expansion

Danielle Gibson, the entrepreneur behind Newcastle-based clean food cafe and coffee bar Love Lunch, has her eyes set on further expansion after sealing new finance.

The cafe, located at Forth Banks across from the Centre for Life, has secured a new £10,000 loan from the Rivers Capital-managed Finance for Business North East Microloan Fund, that will help Danielle expand its range of clean and nutritional take-home meals.

Launched in 2013, Love Lunch focuses on ‘clean’ food, with meals prepared from fresh ingredients and flavours that aim to appeal to a wide variety of tastes and preferences.

Speaking about the brand’s impressive growth, Danielle credits a recent brand refresh and website redesign as fuelling expansion into new product lines and clients.

She said: “After two years of steady growth I knew it was time for Love Lunch to expand. The product was right – and in demand – I had an excellent team in place and we were really starting to gain momentum.

“I needed a packaged product that I could take to external locations and present to new customers. The microloan came at the perfect time to make this happen.

“I invested in a brand refresh by Unit44, and loved the results. We then developed a new website, packaging and various print and marketing materials. The results have far exceeded expectations.”

The cafe recently branched out into healthy take-home meals, launching its ‘Clean & Prepped’ range, and now has supply arrangements in place with the likes of Model Health Cafe and Northumbria CrossFit.

Danielle now hopes to expand the take-home range into an even bigger proposition, and snare more clients in the process, whilst using the new finance to fund external pop-up events and scale-up the cafe’s setup.

Looking ahead, she added: “The next stage will be to up scale the operation - whether that be to alter the set-up we have at Forth Banks, or to take on an additional kitchen premises.”

James Holloway, Investment Executive at Rivers Capital believes that Love Lunch is an ‘ideal candidate’ for the Microloan Fund, which offers loans from £5,000 to £50,000 for small businesses unable to get backing from mainstream financial lenders, and provides a great example of what the fund can do for local businesses.

“Danielle is running an admirable business, and we are proud to help her with her expansion plans,” James said.