Earlier this month, London-based Chinese takeaway restaurant, Zing Zing, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube to raise £350,000. Within a matter of a weeks, the initiative surpassed its initial goal and is currently nearly £500,000 thanks to over 275 investors. Among those who have pitched in on the funding round was reportedly vice chairman of Goldman Sachs and the co-chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs International, Michael Sherwood.
Zing Zing, which was founded by Josh Magisdon, offers up Chinese cuisine that has a modern and healthy twist. Each meal is cooked fresh and has no monosodium glutamate (MSG) and is notably delivered fast (average time was 32 minutes in 2015). Both of the company’s North London units have generated £1.05m of net turnover last year.
According to The Telegraph, Zing Zing also has other heavyweight investors and board members, which includes Jamie Barber, restaurateur and founder of Brazilian barbecue chain, Cabana; Maurice Abboudi, former Domino’s Pizza executive and founder of Pizza Lupa group, which sold to Firezza in 2015; and John Harrison, formerly of Malmaison and Liberty’s.
The company noted:
“We are proud of being a takeout and delivery only restaurant. This give us some major advantages over a traditional restaurant business model. We collect a rich set of data whenever an order is placed (our database is 40,000 strong), which a traditional restaurant would not. This data allows us to be targeted in both menu engineering and marketing. We use these tools to attract and retain customers. E.g. 70% of orders came from returning users in 2015 compared to 57% in 2014.”
Funds from the campaign will be used for new sites in Kilburn and Sheperd’s Bush. Magidson revealed to the media outlet that he is also looking to expand the business beyond London in the next three years.
“Chinese takeaway is loved across the UK so this could work anywhere. We may look overseas.”
The campaign is set to close mid-May.
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