A chain of sustainable vegan restaurants is set to start crowdfunding for its next London venue in January.
Stem & Glory’s Broadgate restaurant is expected to open in April 2022 and, spanning two floors, will be their biggest establishment.
Founder and CEO of Stem & Glory Louise Palmer-Masterton, 56, is hoping to raise £500,000 for the new restaurant through crowdfunding.
Palmer-Masterton said: “We’re about to do a crowdfund so my mind is pretty much on that at the moment.
“I can’t wait as it’s our biggest project to date and Broadgate is a very busy site.”
An agreement for the lease on the building has been signed and fundraising will begin next January.
Stem & Glory’s two existing restaurants in Cambridge and London Barts were both 100% funded through crowdfunding, with over 1200 individuals invested in the business.
Palmer-Masterton said: “A lot of our investors are mission-driven and actively engage with us as a brand.
“They’re our customers as well as our investors.
“We’ve done very successful raises before so hopefully we will do so again.”
There will be a curated bar on the ground floor of the new restaurant, with an open kitchen on the first floor.
Working with British wine and craft beer producers, the business is aiming to take advantage of Broadgate’s busy nightlife.
Stem & Glory prides itself on being a vegan restaurant chain that places sustainability and decarbonising eating out at the heart of its work.
The plant-based chain produces less than 20% of carbon emissions than the average restaurant and only uses renewable energy, with their furniture made from repurposed post-consumer waste.
They have pledged to be carbon negative by the end of 2021, a goal which involves them removing more carbon from the atmosphere than they are producing.
Palmer-Masterton explained that they are close to achieving this target and are working with accredited offset partners to counterbalance their remaining emissions.
She said: “I’m confident we’ll get there.
“We did a lot of the work in the summer when we measured our footprint.
“We’re just going over it now with a fine tooth comb.”
The restaurateur was acknowledged for her work at a COP26 climate summit awards ceremony in Glasgow this November.
A finalist in the competition, Stem & Glory was hailed as one of the UK government’s ‘Heroes of Net Zero’.
Palmer-Masterton said: “I had a great trip and it was fantastically crazy and good all in one go.
“COP 26 was quite an experience to be honest.
“I’ve always said that I’m happy to share what we’ve learnt through Stem & Glory.
“It’s time we all got onboard and shared knowledge and good practice.”
They were also nominated as this year’s Best Enterprising Business at the SME National Business Awards on 3 December.
Stem & Glory’s owner stopped eating animal products in her late teens and is driven by a desire to create ethical and tasty dishes.
Palmer-Masterton said: “I’ve spent a long time in this space and have watched the evolution of veganism happen.
“The sort of vegan food that I got fed when I was younger was really rubbish and I’ve spent over 35 years trying to find a decent vegan meal.
“I’ve always known that food could be better for the environment, could taste better, could be presented better and be more nutritious.”
She added: “Stem & Glory is an unstoppable train because I’m being driven forward by changing hearts and minds with delicious meals.”
Stem & Glory began donating meals to people in India and the UK this October, after setting up its ‘A Meal for a Meal’ scheme.
This initiative sees the business give away a meal for each meal purchased at one of its restaurants, with 5,928 donated in its first month.
Palmer-Masterton said: “It’s really good and another real positive.
“It’s great that as our business grows we are able to do more good.”
The new London Broadgate restaurant will be located at 100 Liverpool St, London, EC2M 2AU.
To find out more, visit Stem & Glory’s website.
Featured image credit: Stem & Glory
