Will Sissle and Mary Chapman-Sissle plan to open Sissle & Daughters Coffee, Wine Bar & Grocer in Woodfords Corner in early October and are using the crowdfunding platform NuMarket to help fund the build-out. The husband and wife also own The Cheese Shop of Portland on Washington Avenue. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The owners of The Cheese Shop of Portland are turning to their loyal customers and the greater community for help funding the build-out of a coffee shop, wine bar and market they plan to open in Woodfords Corner in October.
The hook? Whatever people give now, they’ll get back – and then some – to spend in the shop.
Mary Chapman-Sissle and Will Sissle are the latest Maine business owners to launch a campaign through NuMarket, a Boston-based crowdfunding platform that was developed during the pandemic specifically for food-and-beverage businesses. The model is that contributors get back 120% of their donation in six, monthly installments of store credits that never expire. So, a $100 contribution is returned in the form of six, $20 payments for $120 total. NuMarket receives 9% of the total funds raised.
The campaign’s goal is to raise $150,000 to cover the funding of initial inventory, kitchen equipment and the build-out of Sissle & Daughters Coffee, Wine Bar & Grocer in a former auto garage on Forest Avenue. As of Thursday evening, it had raised $42,677 from 231 contributors – enough to fund a meat slicer and an espresso setup.
Chris Wheaton, of Portland, said he contributed $300 to the campaign because he thought “having a 20% return on your investment is a fantastic deal.”
“I get to spend money that I’m gonna spend anyway … and help them,” said Wheaton, who owns North Optical and art space on Washington Avenue, not far from The Cheese Shop, where he often stops to buy a sandwich to take back to work.
Contributors can use the credits at The Cheese Shop (starting 30 days after the campaign expires on Aug. 30) or the new business, once it opens, but must choose one or the other (or make two separate donations).
Chapman-Sissle said she and her husband chose to use NuMarket because it puts an emphasis on community and is cheaper than taking out a loan from the bank.
“With the consideration of how high interest rates are right now, we would be paying many thousands of dollars per month in just loan payments, whereas this is … a slower trickle of money going back out than huge amounts all at one time,” she said.
Since launching three years ago, NuMarket has worked with more than 100 businesses – on multiple crowdfunding campaigns with some. In Maine, that’s included The Place Bakery in Camden, for the purchase of a walk-in refrigerator, and Cong Tu Bot in Portland, to open another restaurant, Oun Lido’s.
Chelsea Kravitz, co-owner of The Place Bakery, said it was cheaper and more efficient to fund the fridge using NuMarket than it would have been to use a different crowdfunding platform, such as Kickstarter, which has fundraisers reward patrons with gifts that often require shipping, rather than just giving patrons money or store credit.
“With Kickstarter … you can chip in $5 and get a postcard … or $25 and get a hat or $50 and get a T-shirt – all kinds of different things,” Kravitz said. “But a lot of the times, it ends up being more work than a business anticipates it being, just as far as manufacturing those items and getting them to people who support Kickstarter campaigns.”
‘IT’S REALLY, REALLY SIMPLE’
“And with NuMarket, it’s really, really simple,” Kravitz said. “It is more affordable for you to run a NuMarket campaign than to run a Kickstarter campaign or get a bank loan.”
NuMarket founder Ross Chanowski said watching many of his favorite businesses struggling during the pandemic inspired him to create the platform.
“It felt like the right time to start NuMarket, to let the people who those businesses are serving and the people who really care about them be the ones who not only fund those businesses, but benefit from it,” he said. “Every business wants to create a stronger community connection, and we’re able to help with that.”
Chanowski sees something special in the family dynamic of Sissle & Daughters, something he thinks NuMarket stands for.
“I think they really embody the best of small independent business, which is real people,” Chanowski said. “A real family trying to do something important, not only for their community but also for their kids.”
Katie McNally, of Portland, a regular at The Cheese Shop, contributed to the fundraising campaign – she wouldn’t say how much – because she thinks Sissle & Daughters will enrich Portland.
“I’m excited for it to be a new hang,” said McNally, 34. “I think it’ll be a real boon to Portland.”
