A GLASGOW catering company that provides pop-up coffee stations to offices has secured a six-figure funding package in its quest to become a national brand.
SilverBean Coffee has signed a deal worth £200,000 with Liverpool-based Bibby Financial Services, covering more than half of its target funding for the year ahead.
The company – registered as Blackmhor – is the brainchild of entrepreneur Caroline Black, who founded sports catering business Azure Support Services with the backing of Sir David Murray.
SilverBean's coffee stations, which it calls flexipods, are designed to be set up in the foyers of office buildings. They aim to provide good quality hot and cold drinks, and food including sandwiches and pastries.
It currently has 10 flexipods in Edinburgh, Watford, Yorkshire and Glasgow.
SilverBean's pitch is to offer landlords an alternative to facilities managers who offer catering, in some cases using brands such as Costa and Starbucks, as part of a bigger package of services.
Black explained that the expansion model is initially capital intensive because each flexipod costs £20,000 to set up, although it will become self-sustaining if the company reaches its target of installing 100 pods within three years.
Three of the existing flexipods have been part of a successful trial by a major office provider. This will now be rolled out across a number of sites over the next couple of years.
SilverBean has so far invested £300,000 to get the product right and build the first 10 pods, some of which has been raised from private investors.
Black said: "The business is four years old. Unfortunately, I set it up just at the point when the economy ran into trouble. I knew it was a good idea, I knew it worked, people liked it but I just couldn't get funding. But now we have got part of the package from Bibby Financial Services. That's very positive."
SilverBean has hired property agent Lambert Smith Hampton to help identify suitable buildings around the UK. It is in the process of moving its flexipod manufacturing site from Essex to Edinburgh.
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