Restaurant chain Coal Grill and Bar has secured £1.5 million from the government’s Capital for Enterprise Fund through fund manager Octopus.
Restaurant chain Coal Grill and Bar has secured £1.5 million from the government’s Capital for Enterprise Fund through fund manager Octopus.
Coal Grill and Bar, which operates restaurants in Wimbledon, Basingstoke, Sheffield and Bristol, will use the money to open extra sites around the UK, aiming to open at least four new restaurants in each of the next two years.
The company, which is already backed by asset management firm Beringea and debt from Barclays, is ‘in active negotiations’ on a number of sites expected to open in Spring.
Chris Allner, MD of Octopus Ventures, says Coal has grown ‘impressively’ in the two years since it was established, despite difficult conditions for the restaurant sector.
Octopus’s advisers in the deal were law firm Nabarro, commercial diligence specialist Elliott People and accountancy firm BDO, while Coal was represented by K&L Gates.
The Capital for Enterprise Fund, intended to help growing businesses struggling to raise finance in the credit crunch, has £75 million to invest, of which £30 million is being managed by Octopus.
