This equity crowdfunding campaign is so cool. Silo is a “zero waste” restaurant, coffee house and bakery that promotes “a pre-industrial food system”. They have just closed a small funding round on 
Crowd2Fund. This is described as the “first zero waste restaurant ever in the UK”.
To completely disclose – I have a touch of the foodie in me. I lean towards the Paleo side of things but to walk into a Fast Food restaurant is akin to Holy Water on the undead. So when I saw this one come up I just had to check it out.
Zero waste means exactly that. Absolutely nothing is processed – except on site. This includes their very own brewery in the basement, growing their own mushrooms on generated compost and much more. All meat and vegetables come directly from the producer – there are no middle men involved. 
They mill all their own flour and churn their own butter and that is not where it ends.
The restaurant’s owners have raised £40,o00 from 11 investors. This amount represents 5% equity at a pre-money valuation of £800,000. Investors will benefit from SEIS tax relief. Due to ongoing interest the funding round has been extended to allow for another 2% equity to be purchased.
The money raised will go to acquiring a zero waste coffee roasting system – among other things.
The restaurant, based in Brighton, was co-founded by Douglas McMaster. A chef by trade, he has been in the hospitality industry for a number of years. McMaster has worked for a number of well-known restaurants such as St. John Bread & Wine in Spitalfields, London. He tested his zero-waste concept in Sydney and Melbourne, where he ran a pop-up restaurant called Wasted.
Watch the pitch video below.
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