8 Plates Going Analogue

Aim

Building a wood-fired, off-grid kitchen in a shipping container. Taking real food, real farmers and real fire to people who need it.

There's a fire burning in a field in Woodborough right now. A Victorian cast-iron range, a farmer who grew what's cooking on it, and a table of strangers about to stop being strangers. I want to build that properly — fit it into a 20ft shipping container, cooking line running along the back wall — and take it anywhere it's needed. I can't do it without you, so here's the pitch, no waffle.

I'm Mark. 25 years in kitchens — Michelin stars, luxury hotels, some telly, mentoring chefs coming up behind me. 200º coffee is basically my blood type. I've made every mistake going building 8 Plates and I'm making them in public, so if you want proof before you back this, it's all on @realmarklloyd and @8.plates.

Here's the thing this industry never tells you: great food isn't about the plate. It's about the soil, the farmer, the fire. Most of us have zero connection to any of that anymore — we eat food with no story attached, cooked by people who've never met the person who grew it, and we've decided that's normal. It's not. It's just what we've settled for.

8 Plates was my answer. 20 seats, incredible food, four nights a month, Nottingham. You turn up at 6:45, sit with strangers, and dinner ends when we're bored of you. Real producers, zero shortcuts, small on purpose — and it's built a community of people who actually give a shit where their food comes from. Probably you.

Now I want to take it further. Instead of 20 people coming to me four nights a month, I'm building a mobile, off-grid, live-fire kitchen that goes to farms, festivals, schools, communities — wherever it's needed. Old craft, new tech. Everything starts with fire.

What's going into it: a restored Victorian cast-iron range fuelled by sustainable wood, reclaimed cast iron and hand-made tools from British craftspeople, ceramics from British potters, solar power and battery storage so it actually runs off-grid, borehole water and heat recovery so "low-impact" isn't just a word I stuck on this page to sound good. Dining happens in a safari tent pitched alongside it — because nobody's eating standing up in a car park.

And here's the part I don't lead with because it's harder to say than jokes about coffee: I grew up in care. Food and hospitality got me out and got me somewhere. I want this kitchen to hand that same door to kids in care, and kids the education system gave up on — not eventually, now. This is a classroom as much as it's a kitchen. Think bigger than your postcode. I did. This is what came of it.

This is all or nothing. Miss £40,000 by 15 October 2026 and nobody's charged, and I've got nothing — not a smaller kitchen, not 90% of one, nothing. So every pledge matters and so does every share. If you can't back it, telling one person who cares about food, farming or fire does just as much for me.

Where the £40k actually goes:

• Cast-iron range — sourcing, restoration, fire safety cert: £4,000.00
• Solar power/batteries/install: £12,000.00
• Safari tent dining room: £4,000.00
• Crockery and glassware £2,000.00
• Container conversion and off-grid build (lights, electrical, extraction, water, heat recovery): £10,000.00
• Cookware, tools and ceramics from British makers: £4,000.00
• Refrigeration £2,500.00
• Crowdfunding platform and payment fees: £1,500.00
• Total: £40,000

Every pledge, every share, every person you rope into this actually moves the needle. Become a Founding Firekeeper. Help me get this built.

Funding method

All or nothing – this project will only receive pledges if it reaches its target of £40,000 by 15th October 2026 at 9:13pm