The food charity providing a helping hand to the 'hospitality homeless'
These are challenging times for people who work in hospitality. According to UK Hospitality, 900,000 industry jobs are still at risk and 75 per cent of UK hospitality firms are at risk of insolvency.
With so many in fear of losing their livelihoods, chef and entrepreneur Simon Boyle, who runs the social enterprise restaurant Brigade Bar + Kitchen near London Bridge, is firing up his efforts to support workers including chefs and front-of-house staff facing redundancy to find employment again, through mental health support and career coaching.
In 2005, Boyle set up the Beyond Food Foundation for people at risk of or who have experienced homelessness. It has since trained 133 apprentices for jobs in hospitality through two-year paid programmes, and equipped more than 3,500 homeless people and vulnerable adults to break the cycle of poverty and unemployment.
Alumni apprentices have gone on to work in restaurants such as the Savoy Hotel, Corbin & King restaurants and Brasserie Blanc: diners enjoy dishes prepared by apprentices at Brigade, from cured sea trout with pickled carrot, borage and citrus crème fraîche to 40-day dry-aged sirloin.
When Brigade closed during lockdown, the team switched to food drops, cooking 3,500 nutritious meals for the vulnerable and shielding, and collecting and distributing 2,000 meals. “We use food as a catalyst for social change,” says Boyle. “Beyond Food is about good food doing good – making a positive impact on people’s lives through cooking.”
Now, the charity has refocused its efforts anew on supporting the new “hospitality homeless”, raising awareness and generating funds for practical tools to help them.
“Beyond Food has used the hospitality industry in the past to help homeless people grab opportunities, but now people in the hospitality industry are themselves at risk of becoming homeless. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to act,” Boyle explains. Alongside a 24/7 crisis line, counselling and a financial hardship fund, Beyond Food has teamed up with career coaches Eyes Wide Opened to launch Made Again, an online programme of workshops.
The course is valued at £150, but costs £50 per attendee thanks to the support of Beyond Food (you can donate £150 to create a place for one struggling hospitality worker). “We’re in a twilight zone with many people furloughed until Nov 1 or who have already been made redundant in real crisis and turmoil.
"We need to help workers out on their ear to get their lives back on track. Not everyone who is a waiter or works in a kitchen knows their strengths or what they’re good at,” says Alastair Creamer, founder of Eyes Wide Opened.
To support the initiatives, Boyle has compiled the Beyond Food Foundation charity cookbook – Feast With Purpose – which includes recipes from 140 chefs, including former apprentices and celebrities Michel Roux Jr, Tom Kerridge, Rick Stein and Prue Leith (available for digital download for £25, or as a hard copy for £65). All funds raised from the book will go towards the Made Again course for vulnerable workers.
“I’ve seen with my own eyes how a career in hospitality serves as a stepping stone, and to see the impact that Covid-19 has had on an industry associated with opportunity is devastating. We want to give people a positive guiding light amid the gloom,” says Boyle.
For more information, go to beyondfood.org.uk/madeagain
