Sri Lankan restaurant The Coconut Tree looks to crowdfunding for growth

Published by

Nicky Godding

The Coconut Tree founders

Sri Lankan street food chain, The Coconut Tree, which opened its first restaurant in an old pub in St Paul's, Cheltenham in 2016, is crowdfunding via Seed Legals for £1 million to expand its chain of nine restaurants into London.

The Coconut Tree was launched in 2016 by five friends who first met at school just outside Colombo, Sri Lanka when they were 11. They moved to the UK to study and some ended up in Cheltenham. The restaurant claims to be the largest Sri Lankan restaurant and bar group outside of Sri Lanka.

The company is targeting a valuation of £100 million by 2028 with the aim to grow annual revenue from £6.7 million to £70 million by 2028.

The pitch says "The Coconut Tree brings the authentic flavours and unrivalled warmth of Sri Lankan. Sri Lankan small plates and ‘Cocotails’ are served in a relaxed ‘island vibe’ interior with great tunes and genuine Sri Lankan hospitality. With few restaurants serving Sri Lankan cuisine in the UK, there is a gap in the market for an authentic offering. The price point is affordable meaning value for money. The sales mix is 60/40% food dishes to beverages, with additional revenue from takeaway."

In addition to its original Cheltenham restaurant, The Coconut tree has sites in Reading, Oxford, Cardiff, Bristol (two sites), Bournemouth, Bath and Birmingham, and now sees opportunities across London.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.