Chef & Restaurant Owner Aiming For Crowdfunder Success With New Campaign
Local chef Gary Usher is looking to raise funds for his latest restaurant venture, Wreckfish, in Liverpool.
Cutting his teeth at the Michelin starred Chester Grosvenor, followed by time spent at Chapter One, Chez Bruce, York & Albany and Jamie’s Italian, Gary Usher is no stranger to hard work. Opening Sticky Walnut in Hoole, Chester, back in 2011 on a shoestring budget, he now owns two additional restaurants with a potential fourth in the pipeline.
In a recently released documentary set in Liverpool, the film records Usher’s latest venture, Wreckfish. Currently a derelict building on the corner of Slater and Seel Street, the team hopes to open the restaurant in September 2017, following a crowdfunding campaign launching on 2nd May.
The venture came about after Usher found what he believed to be the perfect venue for his fourth restaurant and, wanting to pitch the idea for another crowdfunding campaign, had the unique marketing idea to ‘set the scene’ for potential diners and allow them to test drive the venue.
The idea for the five-day pop-up was born. Taking place in February 2017, spaces were scarce and the 30 seats that were made available per day, sold-out online within 10 minutes of being released.
While the pop up was a huge success, with thousands being raised for the Kickstarter campaign, the video documents the toll ‘success’ can have on a person, with the question of “what is successful about the life that I live?” being posed. Painfully honest, Usher admits that his drive and happiness are extrinsically linked.
Initially only releasing the documentary for four hours on Twitter, the response was so overwhelming that the team decided to make the half hour long documentary available to the public indefinitely.
Gary said: “The response we’ve received to the documentary has been phenomenal. We didn’t set out to discuss the nature of success and the strain it can have on a person, but it’s great to hear that not only chefs, but people with their own businesses can completely relate.”
Launching on 2nd May via Kickstarter, with the link being available on the website www.wreckfish.co, the project will be another crowdfunding venture for Usher and follows in the footsteps of his three other successful restaurants, two of which were also launched through massively successful crowdfunding campaigns. These include: Hispi, in Didsbury, South Manchester, Burnt Truffle in Heswall on the Wirral and the much-acclaimed Sticky Walnut flagship restaurant in Hoole, Chester.
