51Âþ»­

A new way of crowdfunding is coming to Leicester this week, with people being urged to support start-up ideas over dinner.



will see four community projects in Leicester given four minutes to pitch their ideas and can be asked up to four questions by the audience. Tickets cost £5 which includes bread, soup, salad and a voting token to cast their vote.

After discussing the pitches over dinner, the audience votes for the winner who receives the funding taken from the entry fees to put towards making their idea a reality.

The SOUP movement began in America and has since taken off in the UK, with successful community projects supported in Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol and London.

Leicester SOUP takes place tomorrow night (Thursday 1 June) at Soft Touch Arts community centre in New Walk, Leicester. It is aimed to host the event every three months in the city.

Organiser Hersh Thaker said: “Food is a great way to get people together. We are really excited to bring it to Leicester. There’s strictly no PowerPoint presentations, we want people to come and tell us a story. 


“By the end of the night, the person with the most votes will take home the money raised in the night. Once businesses and start-ups, and even charities are well-established it can be easier to find funding but if you’re someone who has an idea to get off the ground, that’s where we come in.”

#51Âþ»­local is backing Leicester SOUP as part of its community to support and develop schemes across the city.

Mark Charlton, Head of Public Engagement, said: “We love innovative ideas that aim to benefit the city, particularly ones that our students can support and participate in.

“We have been a long-time admirer of the Detroit Soup initiative in the US and when we heard a group of people were trying to get the idea off the ground in Leicester, we immediately wanted to get involved and help.”  

Among those vying for the funding will be Lydia Unsudimi and Christine Wigmore.

Lydia said: “I think this is a brilliant way to not only raise funding for positive projects, but its also a way to network, share skills/ideas and a way for people in Leicester to know what's going on as it can be difficult to know what's going on.”

Christina added: “Leicester Soup is a fantastic initiative.”