/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46868144/nightkitchen1fb.0.0.jpg)
Getting a new restaurant off the ground is a pricy endeavor, and online crowdfunding efforts that draw on the support of the community seem by now to have cemented themselves as an important part of how restaurants get made. Sometimes it can get contentious, as it did when PYT's Tommy Up sought funds for the Yachtsman, and other times it invokes an outpouring of warm fuzzies, as CookNSolo's Rooster Soup showed. Some have even gotten more creative with it, like W/N W/N coffee bar, which devised its own community funding scheme and secured a Kiva Zip loan. More recently, the team behind the wildly popular Philly Style Bagel pop-ups raised more than $20,000 toward equipment to make a permanent Fishtown shop plausible, while South Philly Barbacoa sought a modest $500 for a grinder that will allow them to begin making their own fresh tortillas. Scott Schroeder and Pat O'Malley went the old-fashioned IRL route with a potluck and silent auction to raise funds for their upcoming Hungry Pigeon, but simultaneously ran a successful bid via GoFundMe for more funds toward getting their kitchen up and running.
So what's next? Here's a look at four local crowdfunding campaigns going on right now, including two cafes-to-be and a couple of existing businesses looking for some help to grow: