Management at a doughnut company have outlined how they want to hit £12 million turnover in the next three years.
Derby-based Project D, which currently has a turnover of £2.6 million, is launching a £400,000 crowdfunding campaign to bring in money for expansion. Anyone from professional investors to members of the public can become a shareholder with a stake of £50 – and help the business on its ambition to become the world’s biggest doughnut company.
The money will be used for product innovation, retail expansion, digital marketing, e-commerce and key office hires.
The crowdfund campaign has already generated £150k of lead investment even before its official launch on Crowdcube.
Project D is also preparing to open its first flagship store, in Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping mall, with plans to open more permanent retail outlets in the near future.
The business was founded by three old school friends working from a kitchen table in 2018, and has grown to more than 100 staff operating from a purpose-built 11,000 sq ft bakery. It makes around 2 million doughnuts a year – and the bakery has capacity to take that up to 17 million.
In the past couple of years the doughnut retailer and manufacturer has had partnerships with a number of big brands such as British Airways, Brewdog, Amazon and Rolls-Royce.
Project D marketing director Max Poynton, who set up the firm with Matt Bond and Jacob Watts, said: “This is a unique opportunity to invest in a young business that has already established itself as one of the leading doughnut manufacturers in the UK.
“There is no better time than now to be involved in this market, as the popularity of doughnuts keeps growing year-on-year.
“We offer a bigger and better product, with more innovation than any of our competitors. I’d therefore urge investors to join the inner ring and enjoy our journey towards becoming the largest doughnut company in the world.”
Project D recently expanded its senior management team, taking on new heads of finance, HR and retail and wholesale. It also works with business advisor Mark Doleman, who previously spent 20 years as a partner at Deloitte.
The firm, which has created more than 2,500 individual product lines, also works closely with food scientists and nutritionists at a state-of-the-art research and development facility in Corby, Northamptonshire.
Its rapid expansion has been aided by a big digital marketing push and social media following, with its TikTok account receiving 19 million views, 1.1 million likes and 27,000 comments in a single two-month period.
Max said: “We’ve already received a great deal of interest from prospective investors. We’re extremely confident that we will smash our £400,000 target.
“There’s no limit to what people can invest – and we’d love to see a mix of small, £50 investments alongside some big-ticket investments.”
