From Square Pies to Tossed: how to invest in food
We look at different ways to invest your money in food.
If you are looking for a more exciting - and riskier - way to invest your cash than stocks and shares in a FTSE 100 firm, then there are plenty of exotic investments available to you.
Earlier this year we looked at how to invest in beer. Now let's turn to food.
Square Pie
Square Pie started out as a market stall selling gourmet pies in Old Spitalfields Market in London, quickly acquiring a reputation for making 'proper' pies.
It has since expanded into a chain of six restaurants and a grocery business, serving more than 700,000 people last year. After winning seven awards at the most recent Great Taste Awards, the company is on track to hit sales of £5 million this financial year.
Square Pie's crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcude aims to raise £750,000 via a retail mini-bond. This is basically an IOU from the firm, so you don't actually get a stake in Square Pie. For more, read our Beginner's guide to bonds.
The money will be used to expand to over 25 restaurants and push sales to around £22 million by 2019. The bond is a four-year bond paying 8% a year (before tax) and the minimum investment is £500. As an incentive, bondholders get invitations to an exclusive party, discount cards and free pies. This bond is eligible for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), so you may be able to claim some tax relief on your return.
To date, Square Pie has raised £322,000 from 152 investors (including a single investment of £10,000), so the campaign is on the way to being fully funded. It closes on 27th August.
Given that Square Pie is an established restaurateur with a substantial turnover already, this 8% mini-bond is almost certainly the least risky of these five fund-raisings.
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Tossed
Healthy eating restaurant Tossed is looking to raise just over £750,009 on Seedrs by selling 5.50% of the equity in the firm. It already has 24 sites, and wants to use the money to open more both here and around the world. It is also looking at "IT solutions" to improve on its mobile app.
Shares cost £12.33 each, with the minimum investment of one share. If you invest over £200 you get a 20% discount for a year, invest over £2,500 and you'll get a 50% discount for a year, while investments of over £5,000 will secure you a 50% discount for life (while you remain a shareholder). What's more the shares are EIS-eligible.
Tossed has so far secured almost three-quarters of its target, with the campaign closing 3rd September.
Cape Fisheries
This is an unusual investment opportunity, since it involves funding food production, rather than food-service ventures. Based in Southampton, Hampshire, but operating in the Western Cape region of South Africa, Cape Fisheries aims to develop a sustainable and profitable community-fishing operation.
Cape Fisheries is looking for £100,000 start-up capital, again through Crowdcude, to get the business off the ground.
Cape Fisheries' fundraising involves selling up to 15% of the company A or B shares for £100,000. If you invest £1,500 or more you will receive A shares, which gives you voting rights. If you invest less then you'll get B shares, which do not have voting rights.
So far, Cape is more than halfway there, having raised £51,970 from 44 investors, one of whom put in £15,000, with the fundraising closing on 29th August. These shares are eligible for Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) tax breaks.
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Growing Underground
Based in Lambeth, London, Growing Underground's sustainable farm uses redundant underground spaces to produce "leafy greens, herbs and micro-herbs". The venture is backed by celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr, sustainability pioneer Ed Gillespie, Neil Sanderson, MD of Florette (the UK's largest branded-salad company) and Glen Fernandes, HSBC director.
Growing Underground needs £200,000 of new funding to convert redundant underground spaces into growing areas, starting with two disused WW2 air-raid shelter sites (both twelve stories under Clapham, London) into a sustainable farm.
This is one of the newest campaigns to appear on Crowdcube, but it has already raised more than 27% of its target from a total of 52 investors.
It is offering both A and B shares. You get A shares, and voting rights, if you invest £25,000 or more. Smaller investments will give you B shares. If you invest £1,000 or more you'll get a tour of the site.
In total 8% of the company is being offered up through this crowdfunding, which closes on 9th September.
Mara Seaweed
Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Mara Seaweed makes an award-winning range of 'shake-on seaweed seasonings' .
A 'Best Producer' finalist in the BBC Food & Farming Awards, Mara's products launched in Harrods in 2014 and are also on sale in Marks & Spencer UK-wide. As well as selling in Western markets, Mara is making inroads into the Asian market, where seaweed is an established part of the daily diet.
Mara is looking for £500,000 to enter new export markets, build up its brand through more sales and marketing effort, and build up stocks of seaweed and production facilities. It is selling A and B shares, worth a total of 13.72% of the company. If you invest £10,000 or more you get A shares with full voting rights, smaller investments get B shares.
On top of that, investors get a series of rewards, ranging from the opportunity to trial new products if you invest £100 all the way up to a tour of the factory, lunch in Mara's Sea-Spice Cottage and two nights in a B&B in the village of Elie in Fife, with a host of other benefits on top, if you invest £50,000.
Thanks to £300,000 provided by Scottish angel investors, Mara has already raised nearly three-quarters of the total. Again, these shares are EIS-eligible and this fund-raising closes on 4th September.
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