Target reached!
If we were to raise more than our aspirational target of £40,000 we would: Refit our...
Secure The Future Of The Freshwater Coffee House
Freshwater, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Raising money, via pre-orders and pay it forwards, to ensure that The Freshwater Coffee House survives the repercussions of Covid19
TFCH - So hard to build, so valuable to keep...
An independent Coffee house on the Isle of Wight, we opened in April 2018 when our daughter Vera was just 11 weeks old and our son Willoughby was 5. Our aim; to spend more time together as a family and to help Stefan recover from the effects of the breakdown he had whilst working away in London.
Using our life savings and a lot of hard work we've created an award-winning coffee house, in a village we love, and provide work for 10 local people, income for numerous local suppliers and causes including the Anxiety Café and The Freshwater Independent Lifeboat.
Everyone is welcome, listened to, and served with love and we are blessed to be loved by our locals and visitors to the island alike.
Reaching out isn’t easy for us…
Those who know us, know that asking for anything, is hard for us to do. We prefer to be supporting others but, having looked at everything, we're not sure what alternative there is if we wish to save our business, our team's future and remain the “community hub” our customers tell us we’ve become.
What do we need? Short, Medium and Long Term…
Having completed a cashflow forecast, to make it through just the next few months, we need to raise a minimum of £20,000. In the short term, this sum will enable us to cover the cost of paying:
- March’s salaries, massively affected, but only partially covered by the government scheme.
- to take any of the team out of furlough to help us re-open.
- any outstanding bills to suppliers and our landlord
- to replace perished stock and to buy new stock
- our VAT bill: we used the money we’d saved to pay our team 100% of their salary in March.
- to make any changes we need to, in order to open our doors and meet government guidance.
In the medium to long term, we know that we will need more so we’ve set an aspirational goal of £40,000 to help us cope with:
- Reduced footfall and income due to ongoing social distancing; imagine the 2-metre rule being played out in the coffee house.
- Creating a new offering including enhancing our takeaway options and creating a delivery service.
- Bringing team members out of furlough to look after the queues.
It all goes back into the pot…
Becky and I cannot get any support under the government's self-employed scheme but our intention is that any ‘extra’ from the scheme will go back into the pot.
We need to make sure that our team and the coffee house itself are fit to get through this and so we’ve applied for Universal credit and are selling our house to lighten the burden too.
The stakes are high and that’s why we’re asking the #TFCH Community to dig deep.
Your Rewards: 3 ways for you to support us…
We have put together a range of great rewards, suited for a range of budgets, and based upon three ways to give.
1. Buy Now – You Enjoy Later
- Pay for something now to help us get through this and enjoy it when we re-open.
- You’ll notice that we are charging a little bit more than usual, that’s so that we can pay more from what you give us into our fighting fund.
- If you bring a paying friend with you at the time, that will help our ongoing cash flow too.
2. Pay It Forward – Key Workers
- We owe a debt of gratitude to so many.
- We have included pledges which will gift tea, coffee and cake to frontline and key workers once we reopen so that you can continue to thank those who made a difference during lock down.
3. Donations – The TFCH Fighting Fund .
- The future is uncertain, but will undoubtedly require us to change and flex what we do. With no money to make these changes, this will be nigh-on impossible. To help us do this, we have included a donation option so that we can build a fighting fund
Match funding – The Solent LEP...
The great news is that the first £5000 of money you pledge will be match-funded by the Solent LEP though their “Pay it Forward” scheme which can be accessed here: https://solentlep.org.uk/crowdfunding-programme-pay-it-forward/
TFCH Angels Wall - Recognising Your Pledge...
To recognise those who have been able to help us, be it financially or through practical support and ideas, we will be placing names on a new "TFCH Angels Wall"; a lasting thank you to those who have helped us. All names will be placed on our website also.
Thank you...
On behalf of our family and our team; thank you for the past two years and (hopefully) the next 20. We’re planning a celebration when we re-open so please keep your eyes peeled for further details.
If you have any questions, take a look here at our frequently asked questions. If the answer is not there, please feel free to drop us a message.
Love Stefan, Becky, Willoughby, Vera and #TeamTFCH xx
We ask project owners to honour their rewards wherever possible but please note that all pledges are donations and there is no guarantee that you will receive any rewards from the project owner. Please see Crowdfunder's Terms of Use for more information regarding rewards for pledges.
Crowdfund Solent has provided £2,000 of match funding
This project successfully funded on 7th August 2020