Our vision for the Canvas Cafe is a step closer to becoming a reality after our recent crowdfunding success.
As many of you know, we will be launching the ultimate country-café later in the spring. The Canvas Café will be a venue unlike anything else; a place to experience the joys of local food amid a delightful working farm in the East Midlands countryside. After our crowdfunding campaign, we are even closer to serving you our homemade afternoon tea in this lovely setting.
Waterloo Cottage Farm is the perfect place for the cafe with it’s free-range, eco-friendly and organic-loving ethos. Behind their wonderful farm shop, our cafe will be housed in a huge tent. You’ll be able you enjoy your afternoon tea under quirky canvas. At both Waterloo Cottage Farm Shop and the Canvas Cafe you can expect delicious food and drink that is fresh, seasonal, locally produced, free-range, and organic where possible.
“We cannot wait to share our love of cooking (and eating!) with you.” – Jen
At the end of March, we launched a crowdfunding campaign as part of Crowdfunder.co.uk and Go Daddy’s ‘What’s Your Idea?’ campaign. Thanks to the support from like-minded people, we reached our £3000 target and raised over £3500 towards the start-up costs of the café. We cannot wait to use the café to champion fresh, organic, and free-range local food and drink in a quirky country setting.
The £3500 raised on Crowdfunder.co.uk will be used to fund the seating and contribute to the catering equipment in the cafe. The project received great support with nearly 50 pledges made in just two weeks. Lara and I were so encouraged by the support and feedback. All the pledgers picked up fantastic rewards in return, such as delicious coffee and homemade cake, afternoon tea, a weekend glamping experience, and a private party. We now have plenty of Canvas Café VIPs too.
Delivered in partnership with GoDaddy, ‘What’s Your Idea?’ kicked off in early February and offered the most innovative and impactful ideas of 2018 the opportunity to win £1,000 towards a crowdfunding project. Running over seven different days – each with its own theme – there were plenty of opportunities to get involved via Facebook. Canvas Cafe was announced as one of the winners of £1,000 in the #SheMeansBusiness Female Entrepreneur category with Enterprise Nation.
Guy Hayler, Head of Partnerships at Crowdfunder.co.uk, said, “With over 2,000 entries throughout What’s Your Idea?, we were faced with a huge decision! The quality of every single project involved and going live on 14th March is truly incredible and we can’t wait to see how they all get on.”
This was a huge deal for Lara and I as we are passionate about encouraging other women in business, especially rural business. Winning £1,000 and receiving support from Crowdfunder, GoDaddy and Enterprise Nation gave us the confidence to really take a step forward with our nature-filled café idea! We’re hoping that the café will encourage people to get together with friends, discover great local food and spend more time in The Great Outdoors. We also hope that it will inspire other people to follow their dreams and dive into their ‘big idea’ too.
We are over the moon to have been picked as a winner and to have reached our crowdfunding target! It’s now time to get building and buying. It’s time to perfect our recipes and get the menu ready for you all. It won’t be long until your afternoon tea in the country, we promise. We will keep you updated with each new development towards the launch of the Canvas Café. Watch this space.
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From the very happy Country Bumpkins, Lara and Jen
