Kickstarter is the latest craze in crowdfunding, where the general public can help fund creative projects, tech products, and other cool ideas via the internet. Kickstarter doesn’t just raise money, it helps build communities. Supporters pledge money towards ideas they want to see succeed. The Kickstarter community celebrates resourcefulness and drive.
Restaurant Successes
The restaurant industry has found its way onto the crowdfunding site as a potential financial jumpstart for restaurant proposals, food trucks, and even recipes for potato salad. If you have an idea for a restaurant, but need financial support, creating a project on Kickstarter and turning to crowdfunding could give you the boost you need.
Kickstarter Success Stories
The first restaurant project was funded on Kickstarter in 2010. Homeroom, an Oakland mac-and-cheese business raised $7,646 from 98 donors. After that, a large chunk of the Food section was populated by pitches for food trucks. There was even a how-to book published in 2012 called Food Truck Funding with Kickstarter.
In January 2014, a restaurant in Braddock, Pennsylvania, called Superior Motors, raised $310,000 on Kickstarter, a record for crowdfunded restaurants. Just recently, Kickstarter had its 500th Kickstarter restaurant project and continues to expand its restaurant revenue builder.
How It Works
Kickstarter collects 5% of the funding for profits at the end of the campaign period. If you don’t reach your goal, that’s okay, Kickstarter will still reward whatever money you raised. Likewise, you can raise over your goal and use those funds as well.
For the right projects or ideas, crowdfunding could help you raise the money you need to get up and running. You can check out a map of all 500 restaurants funded by Kickstarter as well as other projects at kickstarter.com.