After launching a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month to help fund a new, community-supported restaurant in Leland, Sweet n Savory owner, Rob Shapiro, has announced that he will now seek private funding for the project.

Shapiro has signed a lease for the space within the Waterford shopping center that formerly housed Eddie Romanelli’s and Fat Tony’s.

Shapiro sought to raise a total $450,000 to fund the restaurant, and to date has earned just shy of $5,000. With a June 9 end date, Shapiro said it is clear that the project will not meet its goal.

“When we rolled out the concept of co-creating and sharing the profits of our new Leland location with the community, we understood that it was an idealistic long shot, but we consciously decided to take the leap of faith and to see what happened,” Shapiro said. “We are grateful to the community for all the interest shown in the Kickstarter experiment. We look forward to becoming a part of the Leland family and to the adventure of breathing life into our new location.”

As part of the business model for this location, Shapiro said he planned to invest fifty percent of the sales back into the community.

“It’s not about maximizing profits,” Shapiro said. “It’s about making a human connection with the community.”

It is unclear if that will still be a possibility with private funding.

Shapiro plans to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Leland location, following a model very similar to his Wrightsville Beach location. Baked goods will be brought in from the central bakery at the Wrightsville Beach restaurant.

Shapiro said he is also still working with developer Jim McFarland to create a Sweet n Savory at 909 Market St. McFarland purchased the 8,200-square-foot office building in 2016 for $1.1 million as part of his plans to develop the "Soda Pop District."

According to Shapiro, the start of this project has been pushed back to early 2020.

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