"We outgrew it a long time ago," James added.
To expand the operation, they've begun to set up at a premises in the old UCOL building in Wanganui East. But they need $30,000 to kit it out and move the entire operation in-house.
"At the moment we've got bits of our process shifted around Wanganui," Mike said. "To have it here all in-house is going to save a lot of time and effort, and we can really refine our process."
To get the money, they've turned to online crowd funding through a page on Kickstarter. People can pledge different amounts of money in exchange for product or services.
"It's different increments," Mike said. "It's from $5 up to about $5000, and there's a series of rewards and prizes."
Rewards include the chance for someone to have the grain from their own brew made into a cracker or their name printed on a run of packets.
"The theory, I think, behind Kickstarter is a lot of small bits make a big bit," James said. Or: "Numbers in action. Spreading the word," as Mike puts it.
The pair said having their own seven-day-a-week premises could open up more opportunities for them and other business in Wanganui.
"This is a big project for us, and we're still only a few steps into it," Mike said.
"Our story's not uncommon for food producers. They create something that's tasty and delicious, better than what they can find on the shelf, so they start baking as fast as they can or as much as they can. Then, after a year or two, they start to realise, well, you've got take it to the next step. Hopefully, we can be a bit of a road map ... and also get people with similar passions inside this building as well."
So far just over $4000 has been raised, and the campaign finishes on October 10. Check out Mash Tun's Kickstarter campaign at www.kickstarter.com and search Mash Tun Crackers.
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