Kipferl’s founder and owner, Christian Malnig, has plans to further roll out the Kipferl concept and aims to open one site a year ‘slowly but consistently’. The current Kipferl is in Angel in North London and started out life as a delicatessen shop before expanding into its current state.
Second site
Malnig intends to open the second site in west London off Portobello road, and has already found a site, though the deal is not yet complete.
“It won’t be exactly the same as the site we have now, but we’ll take the concept across,” he explained. “The new site is a little bit smaller, especially the kitchen, so we’re probably going to keep it a bit simpler. What we’ll do is take the best sellers across from the Angel restaurant, which will still be the flagship site. New one should be a very busy location though.
“The décor and atmosphere will be similar; we’re using the same designer as we did for the first site. We’ll keep some of the design elements so that people can recognise it.”
With the new expansion Malnig still plans to keep what he calls the restaurants ‘four pillars’ in mind: quality, attention to detail, consistency and authenticity. His aim is for the restaurant not to compromise on the idea of being like a typical Viennese coffee house and serving dishes exactly as they would be served in Vienna. This includes serving apfelstrudel cold and without custard or cream, and bringing coffee atop a silver tray alongside a small glass of water.
Crowdfunding
Malnig told BigHospitality he was ‘very happy’ with how quickly the money had been raised, and would use crowdfunding again.
“The main reason I looked at crowdfunding was to bring in outside restaurant expertise which I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise,” he explained. “I also thought it would make the company more marketable to the outside, so it was not just a friends and family business.”
Chief executive and founder of CrowdBnk Ayan Mitra said: “Kipferl shows that it’s the business not the sector that matters when it comes to crowdfunding. Identifying a successful concept driven by passionate owners who are committed to taking their business to the next level is a defining feature of CrowdBnk.
“For those business owners in the hospitality sector who are looking to fund their expansion or refurbishment using an alternative financing solution, Kipferl is proof that crowdfunding works.”