When Square Pie managed to get £650k off 324 Crowdcube punters for their 4 year mini bond in September 2015, they promised mass openings. Now in October 2017, they have fewer restaurants than two years ago.
We have given these guys some previous coverage - here
The original target for the bond was £2m but that soon looked untenable so they reduced it to £450k. That was a dumb idea. Then they had 6 restaurants in London, now they have only 3. Plus one in Birmingham.
In lieu of restaurants, they have teamed up with Vue - the cinema operators - to offer a pie selection to film goers. They have one Vue in London and one in Bristol.
The last accounts to YE Dec 16 will not have thrilled SHs - a loss of around £300k against a projected profit of £75k. It is hardly surprising given the change in company's core strategy. 3 of the London restaurants from 2015 have now closed - which strikes us as very odd considering what the Crowdcube pitch said about them. The 2015 pitch showed the company operating 12 restaurants by YE 2016 - with 20 by the end of this year.
So now they have joined The Eden Project and Riverside to see who can be the first Crowdcube mini bond funded company to fail to repay investors. Square Pie have little cash and now new investment this year. Their reviews remain poor. I wouldnt bet against them.
This explaisn why crowdcube ha grown quiet on these minibonds launch. thats is going to be a massive negative PR when they start defaulting.
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