Founder Douglas McMaster says that the Silo team want to share the fruits of its labour by making their fresh koji accessible business-to-business, ‘facilitating other restaurants, bakeries, breweries, bars and home cooks with their journeys to reduce waste’.
Headed up by Ryan Walker, ‘fermentation guru’ and frontrunner in Silo’s research and development, the project aims to upscale what has previously been an in-house venture, ‘transforming challenging ingredients into exceptional, high-value products’ that can be used in mainstream kitchens and bars.
At the time of writing the crowdfund - which is being hosted on the Kickstarter platform - has raised £2,664 from 21 backers and has 29 days to go.
The crowdfund allows participants to choose between DIY Miso pledges for just £25pp to group tours of the factory led by McMaster and Walker once it opens its doors in September for £100pp.
The DIY Miso backers will have the opportunity to make their own misos using pearl barley dried koji and organic dried fava beans, supplied with a PDF of step-by-step instructions to kickstart their own fermentation journey.
Silo was founded by chef Douglas McMaster in 2014 in Brighton. Following time spent in the world’s top kitchens such as St. John, The Fat Duck and Noma, McMaster tested his zero-waste concept, originally titled Wasted, in Sydney in 2011, before returning to the UK.
McMaster opened Silo, motivated by the goal to produce the world’s first zero waste restaurant following time spent with sustainable artist Joost Bakker, who challenged McMaster to create a restaurant without a bin.
With produce delivered ‘package free’, flour milled on site and compost machines turning scraps and trimmings into compost, Silo achieved that goal.
In October of 2019, McMaster partnered with CRATE Brewery to move Silo to London’s Hackney Wick.
