The Unity Kitchen Café became the first permanent café to be set up at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London in July 2013. However, unlike other hospitality outlets seeking to capitalize on the success of London 2012, the café represented an enterprise with a mission much broader. The goal of the social enterprise was to create job and training opportunities for people with learning disabilities while maintaining the high food standards set during the Games.
Managed by The Camden Society, a registered charity working with people with learning disabilities in London and Oxfordshire, the Unity Kitchen Café is situated in the north part of the park at Timberlodge, offering seating for up to 80 people indoors and an additional 100 people outside. The café has opened its doors, along with the two community rooms, covering approximately 150 m2. Dennis Hone, the Chief Executive of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, referred to the facility as “a great new facility which will create jobs and training opportunities for local people.”
Where Charitable Aims Meet Commercial Success
Unity Kitchen acts as the social enterprise division of The Camden Society, founded in 2010 as “a sustainable and self-reliant means of raising money to support the activities of the charity, while offering employment and training to people with disabilities,” according to Denise Largin, CEO of the charity.
This social enterprise takes the simple yet effective approach of running cafes as profit-making enterprises, serving high-quality food, and using them to train people with learning difficulties to serve and cook, thereby generating additional jobs from their profits. According to the Unity Kitchen website, the cafes were “established to make a difference in the communities where we operate” by training and employing people with disabilities as “the baristas, chefs and service stars of the future.”
This started at the Olympic Park site but has grown into six cafés across London, operated in collaboration with community and public organizations in public facilities such as community centers, libraries, and museums. This is more than just a food service café; it is an integral part of its surroundings, where one may “take a class, check out a book, or visit a museum, or even meet up with some friends over coffee.”
The Food Legacy
The establishment of Unity Kitchen Café had special significance, as all permanent establishments in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park were mandated to sign the Food Legacy Pledge and the Healthier Catering Commitment, both backed by the London Food Board. This implied maintaining the high standards set by London 2012.
According to Rosie Boycott, the Mayor of London’s Food Advisor and Chairwoman of London Food Board: “London’s Games have raised the bar when it comes to serving up food to a high standard – whether it be deliciousness or their commitment to… ‘sustainability.’ We did so here at City Hall and called on others to follow suit. So I’m glad that diners at Unity Kitchen Café in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will continue to enjoy ‘tasty grub’ offered by an establishment that knows how to serve good food,” as cited by Sustain.
The meals are freshly prepared by the chefs each day with “plenty of choice for the whole family,” as mentioned on the Yelp site. Baked homemade cakes and cookies are available, along with a wide selection to take away and enjoy in the beautiful landscaped parkland. The fresh and seasonal produce supplied locally is the base of the menu.
The UnityWorks Apprenticeship Scheme
UnityWorks Apprenticeship Scheme forms the core of Unity Kitchen’s purpose: an 18-month training initiative providing accredited, vocational training for adults with learning difficulties interested in developing culinary expertise and gaining hospitality work experience. It has been successful enough to achieve a 100% placement rate for apprentices in employment, as highlighted by Public Sector Catering.
Unity Kitchen’s café collaborates with institutions such as colleges and job centers to provide employment opportunities for community members. This partnership has helped ensure that 60% of Unity Kitchen Café’s employees are from the boroughs neighboring the park, including Newham, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets, and Greenwich.
Recognition and Impact
In November 2018, Unity Kitchen Café bagged the Employer of the Year award and the Inclusion and Diversity award at the East Works awards ceremony organized by the London Legacy Development Corporation.
In their conversation with Public Sector Catering, Denise Largin expressed that: “We are very successful in providing employment opportunities to individuals with learning disabilities and also for individuals from the surrounding boroughs of the park. However, it would not have been possible to provide the same opportunities to both of these categories without dedication, perseverance, and determination, which our dedicated staff and apprentices possess in plenty. Hence, this twin award is extra special for recognizing Unity Kitchen Café’s success as an employer, training center, and an outlet for undiscovered talent.”
She added: “If you bring your family and friends for a warm welcome and some great food and snacks at our award-winning café, you’ll know every pound you spend is going back into providing apprenticeships and job opportunities to local people and people with a learning disability.”
More Than a Café
The Unity Kitchen Café fulfills many purposes in the community. Regarding its event space, “this venue has a beautiful airy flexible space that can be used for weddings, children’s parties, product launches, or general business meetings,” as stated on their Yelp page. The flexible community room is ideal for all manner of community activities, from community classes and yoga lessons to training workshops, business breakfasts, and live performances.
“Combining a café and a number of community rooms opening out into a lawn surrounded by hazel woodland, Unity Kitchen Café represents a vibrant new public space in the center of East London,” explains the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park website. As well as being located near one of the country’s best children’s playgrounds (“financed thanks to a £1 million grant from the London Marathon Charitable Trust”) and the Velodrome, Unity Kitchen Café is a meeting point as well as a destination for visitors.
The Broader Mission
The Camden Society advocates on behalf of people with learning disabilities and promotes policies that allow them to live meaningful and independent lives. The organization helps more than 600 individuals with housing, jobs, and other services each week in both London and Oxfordshire. Unity Kitchen is just one example of how the charity fulfills its mission while also earning money sustainably.
According to the enterprise’s website, the café “is bursting with quality ingredients” and provides products which are “healthy and wholesome, whether you’re grabbing breakfast to go, socializing over lunch, or ordering party food to impress.” The products of Unity Kitchen, however, are not only sandwiches or cakes, but also opportunities, respect, dignity, and the possibility for people with learning disabilities to develop professionally within the competitive industry.
Any sale of coffee, any purchase of a cake, or any hosting of events creates an additional opportunity to create another apprenticeship or job placement for people with learning disabilities. Through that, Unity Kitchen demonstrates that social enterprise can be run with commercial aims without undermining its charitable goals, and that high-quality food service and social objectives do not contradict each other.
