Since it opened in Inverness over three years ago, Saltwater Oyster Depot has done a lot with a little—that is, with two small, 30-year-old pizza ovens and a few induction burners.
“At first we were like, ‘Nothing will stop us! We’ll do it!’ But now we realize there are limits,” executive chef Matt Elias said of the constraints, which have stopped him from serving pasta because he cannot boil it quickly enough. “It’s been a fun challenge, but it does put a cap on our creativity.”
Owner Luc Chamberland has decided it is time for an upgrade, and he’s partnered with a Washington, D.C.-based company called EquityEats to collect and manage small-scale investments that he hopes reach a total of $200,000 to purchase two new Spanish-style ovens.
He said the upgrade will improve, not expand, the restaurant, which took over a neighboring space, where the Blackbird Café operated, in late 2014. “I don’t want to increase seating. I just want to move from a campfire to a stove,” he said.
At a private event last Thursday for investors, Saltwater, which highlights seafood and other locally sourced ingredients in its coastal California cuisine, showed off what it can do even in its tiny kitchen. The culinary team put out roasted trumpet mushrooms with a fresh chimichurri sauce, Kodomo oysters roasted with fermented chili butter, smoked steelhead trout and clouds of Chantilly cream tucked into chive biscuits, among other delectable small bites, as wine and beer flowed from the taps.
But the ovens are small, Mr. Elias said, forcing long wait times during busy summer weekends and limiting the number of dishes on the menu. The pizza ovens, he added, are temperamental and inconsistent, ruling out some kinds of desserts, like meringues. The new ovens will allow him to modestly expand the weekend brunch menu and the dinner menu.
Mr. Chamberland, who started his restaurant career at Manka’s Inverness Lodge in 1989, has pursued innovative funding strategies for Saltwater before. He started the restaurant with a mixture of investor capital, to open shop, and crowdfunding, wherein he pre-sold meals and held other special events, to fund the open-air patio.
More traditional funding sources, like bank loans, are cumbersome and expensive, as they often come with high interest rates, he noted.
This time around, instead of opting for crowdfunding, he pursued crowd investing. He is soliciting investments of either $1,000 or $5,000, which can be immediately redeemed in credit for food and drink at Saltwater, in perpetuity.
Anyone can invest at the $1,000 level. But per federal law, only accredited investors with either an annual income of over $200,000 or a net worth of over $1 million, excluding the value of one’s home, can invest $5,000.
Investors reap additional rewards every year for the next five years. The lower-level investors will receive 15 percent in interest per year—in other words, an additional $150 credit at Saltwater—as long as the restaurant meets its annual revenue target. Higher-level investors receive 20 percent interest per year in cash, as long as the restaurant meets revenue targets. (If the restaurant does not meet targets, the interest rate drops.)
Mr. Chamberland said he chose the investment route to deepen the commitment to Saltwater. “I wanted people to feel a significant investment, and it was a bigger amount. They will be long-term ambassadors for our brand,” he said.
He sees Saltwater, which donates its staff for fundraising dinners for local nonprofits, as a “community-based restaurant, part of the web of people that grow and produce food. We’re part of the landscape…Our brand is fresh, clean, local, thoughtful.”
It’s an ethos that appeals to many in West Marin, including Lagunitas resident Robin Carpenter, who invested $1,000.
“The model they’ve created makes it possible for someone to invest in their local economy and not need to be a wealthy person,” Ms. Carpenter said. “It worked well for us because you get paid back in credit at the restaurant. So we thought: we already eat here. We looked at our entertainment budget, and by tweaking our budget, we can make that investment. That’s exciting: to invest in a place we love and support.”
Saltwater is the first West Coast restaurant—and the first already-existing restaurant—that EquityEats, which launched in November 2014, has taken on. It’s an impressive feat, given that the company accepts just 3 to 5 percent of applicants.
Saltwater has also attracted investments faster than any other clients, amassing about $70,000 since mid-January, with another $80,000 worth of applications being processed. The founder and C.E.O. of EquityEats Johann Moonesinghe, said it “has been our most successful raise, in terms of the velocity of investments.”
Saltwater’s success with the platform has helped encourage the company to expand. “Based on our success here, we will grow in Northern California in our next quarter,” Mr. Moonesinghe said.
If it reaches its goal, Saltwater will use about $100,000 to purchase a new stove and fund the remodeling necessary to install it. (The restaurant will have to close during the installation, which could take three or four weeks.) The remainder would be put toward personnel and inventory, Mr. Chamberland said.
One oven will come topped with a six-burner stove and a steel griddle, called a plancha, which Mr. Elias is thrilled about. “It’s a thicker piece of metal and it can get hotter, so you can get a good caramelization,” he said. “Right now we’re still in the development phase, creatively, about what we can actually do.
He added: “When I was traveling in Spain recently, I was filling up notebooks of things we can do with the new equipment.” Like Spanish-style shrimp, shellfish cooked on the high-heat griddle and perfectly seared burgers. And, finally, pasta.
To invest, visit equityeats.com/offerings/saltwater.