Grimsby based fish and chip wholesaler Norman Rogers have raised over £60,000 of debt funds on Crowd2Fund, beating their target in just over a week.
The company was first established in 2014 by Henry Norman Rogers, whose family has a strong fishing heritage. Having worked in the fishing industry since he left school, Rogers is a fifth generation fish merchant – the trade is “in his blood”.
Norman Rogers predominantly sells to trade, and provides British cooks with the freshest fish to make the nation’s favourite dishes. This includes the sale of the company’s renowned fish and chips offering, and MSC certified seafood.
The crowdfunded loan will enable Norman Rogers to scale up their offering and focus on supplying fish and chip shops nationally, rather than remaining geographically focussed in the North of England.
The company have already attracted an impressive client base; one of the company’s newest clients is the largest operator of fish and chip shops in the UK. The cash injection will allow the group to better manage their working capital of larger customers with bigger orders.
The campaign, which attracted over 130 lenders, demonstrates that there is a market for crowdfunding debt for companies outside of London, and in longstanding and heritage industries intrinsically linked to British culture.
Often such companies find it even harder to access finance from traditional lenders, in a post Brexit environment with low interest rates and high inflation. Prior to raising funds on Crowd2Fund Henry was not aware of crowdfunding:
“I was going to go to a bank but my financial adviser told me about crowdfunding and Crowd2Fund. It is great to have on board over 130 investors, many of which had never heard of my business before. I am looking forward to updating them on the future growth of the company.”