Crowdfunding pledges for an an independent supermarket in Upper Hutt have grown by nearly $1 million overnight, its founder says.
Plenty Foods launched a campaign to gauge interest in an equity crowdfunding offer to raise capital as it looks to compete with the major supermarket chains.
"Last night I was at 300,000 [dollars] and this morning I'm at 1.3 [million]," owner and founder Henry Hutcheon told Morning Report.
Hutcheon said while details were yet to be finalised he hoped the potential contributors would become shareholders and be provided with an evolving package of discounts on up to 50 products.
"That's a conversation I could have with those people. I'd imagine everyone would want the best outcome for those involved. That's still evolving but there would definitely be some input from potential pledges on what they would expect to see," he said.
Hutcheon told Morning Report the store's Eftpos records were showing 63,000 repeat customers and a growing number of new patrons each month.
"People have had enough. As it turns out, no one's coming to save us so I think it's about time Kiwis just get on do it themselves," Hutcheon said.
Hutcheon said the store needed to invest in their staff and more stock as well as upgrading IT systems.
He hoped to build a model for his store that could fulfil his ambition of expanding to "20 stores in 20 years".
"What that looks like in the next five years is still a conversation I have to have with the people involved.
"But if this works out, which I think it will, it brings a whole new meaning to locally owned and locally operated. There's no limit to what we could do," Hutcheon said.
