As the UK gets to grips with London Paralympics fever, there will hardly be a better time to look at those who have traditionally been sidelined by society.
Following the enormous feeling of national fervour generated by the Olympics, the nation has been looking for the next focus of its goodwill and the Paralympics are firmly in its sights.
That presents an opportunity to champion the cause for anyone involved in promoting opportunities for the disabled, which is why the work carried out by social enterprise Unity Kitchen is particularly timely.
And the feeling the tide is in their favour has been reinforced the introduction this year of the Public Services Act, which puts the responsibility squarely on local authorities to give extra consideration to social enterprises when awarding contracts.
Set up by The Camden Society, it is a catering operation that uses trading income to fund training opportunities and apprenticeships for people with disabilities.
And from a starting point of coffee shop outlets, it is now beginning to expand its influence into the contract catering world, having recently won the right to operate the catering for the London Borough of Southwark at its council offices in Tooley Street.
Under chief executive Denise Largin, Unity is now gearing up to bid for further local authority contracts, potentially taking the operation beyond council coffee shops and workplace restaurants into schools, care homes and even hospitals.
She says: “Back in 2009, we first looked at expanding the operation and going for larger-scale catering contracts, but there was a question mark over the future of the training money we use and whether we would be able to maintain ourselves from trading income.
“Since then we have bid for tenders against regular commercial contractors, which has toughened us up. We have been unsuccessful with some pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ), but we have learnt from the whole process.
“As a result, we have brought in experienced caterers to work in our café operations and to increase our level of professionalism.
“We also recently sent one of our café managers off for three months of procurement training.”
And Largin has sought help from those most sympathetic to the aims of Unity. One such is Jamie Grainger-Smith, the man behind the Think.Eat.Drink. consultancy that helped Jamie Oliver set up his Fifteen restaurant project in Hoxton.
She believes this has substantially strengthened the operation.
“I think that now we’re in a position to be competitive. We’re not looking for huge profits, just looking to cover our costs and return a small profit to invest in the business.
“And we scale our operations in such a way that we can keep prices down, so why not start looking at schools and hospitals now?”
It is a business model that Unity has already used to win contracts to provide catering services at six sites, and Largin believes there will soon be more to come.
“We are looking at civic centres and some of the new ideas that local authorities are exploring.
“At Lewisham, for instance, we have already established a relationship providing food for events and other activities in their libraries and leisure centres.
“We have also completed a PQQ with a chain of community centres. And in Islington, the council is looking to expand its luncheon club operation to include more functions and community events.
“They want to build a public café on the front of the building that will be served by the same kitchen behind it that serves the luncheon club.”
She said these were just a few of the many catering projects being discussed in the capital right now, though she conceded that the go-ahead for such local authority projects was very slow due to the current economic climate in the public sector.
The forerunner to Unity Kitchen began life in Camden back in 1985, when The Camden Society decided to start running cafés that would offer training for people with learning difficulties.
As the idea developed, the trading income generated allowed them to cover the cost of NVQs and food hygiene qualifications for people who would otherwise struggle to find training opportunities.
“We’re talking about people who have had disabilities from birth. They come, for example, from across the range of the autism spectrum or have Down’s Syndrome, and are unlikely to have gone to mainstream schools,” said Largin.
Until recently much of the training has been offered on site and adapted to the special needs of the Unity workforce, with trainers coming to the kitchens.
This has reduced the need for trainees to travel across London and allowed assessors to make much greater use of practical assessment rather than written tests.
That may have helped trainees in one way, but it was also a factor in Unity being turned down for apprenticeship funding the first year it applied.
Qualifications authorities struggled to understand how best to test the abilities of trainees who, for instance, might not be able to read or tell the time.
“They might struggle to demonstrate what they know in a traditional exam format, but they can show you. It just needs a little bit of thought to find the best way to do this, showing colour boards for instance.”
And Unity also had to present a case for why apprenticeship funding, normally targeted at younger people, might be appropriate for workers in middle age.
“We have a couple of people in their fifties working for us who have never had a job before. They need the training but would normally have missed out because they are too old to qualify for Government help.”
Happily, these challenges have been overcome and the company’s apprenticeship scheme Unity Works is fully under way. Westminster Kingsway College has developed a training plan that has answered any previous doubts about the rigour of the assessment process and Government apprenticeship funding has been granted this time round.
Largin says: “The training will involve more day release for key skills training in the classroom, but we don’t see this as a problem. Practical work will continue to be done largely in our own kitchens and our apprentices say that, in fact, they like the idea of being able to meet up in a college environment.”
Much of Unity’s current business momentum has developed as a result of the contract it won with the London Borough of Southwark in 2009 to feed 500 workers and visitors at new offices it opened in Tooley Street.
There was no subsidy available and the council wanted the caterer to come in with competitive prices – at or lower than the High Street.
“We learned a lot from the process,” says Largin, “Because it’s hard at first to show people what you can do. Our cafés serve only a small number of customers.
“The first thing we did was employ a catering service manager with a lot of experience to help us.
“There was a small group set up to represent the council staff and provide input to the contract tendering process.
“We took them to some of our other sites, we asked them what sort of food they wanted and did tasting sessions.
“The council originally wanted a cold food service only, but as a result of the feedback we received from staff, we persuaded them to add a hot food offer as well.”
But why did Southwark Council choose a small, relatively untested social enterprise when there were also competing bids from bigger and much more established operators?
Largin believes the ‘package’ that Unity offered was simply better than anything else.
“First of all, you’ve got the quality of the food, and the staff panel really liked ours.
“The council liked our ability to set up within the tight timetable they had set.
“They were also very keen the catering was a sustainable operation and we were able to show how we worked with local suppliers from Borough Market, our plans to recycle food waste and the use of environmental materials in the kitchen and restaurant fit out.
“And then there’s the added value we provide because we help local people with disabilities to get work.”
Although it was not part of the original contract, Unity has since taken on the function catering at the council offices, providing hospitality for civic visitors and at events such as citizenship ceremonies.
Key facts about Unity Kitchen
• Unity Kitchen was created as a self-sufficient social enterprise which relies on trading income to fund training opportunities and apprenticeships for people with learning disabilities
• The Camden Society now runs six Unity Kitchen social enterprise outlets in London. They are located in: Tooley Street, St Luke’s, Oxford House, Firepower Museum, Lewisham Library and Deptford Lounge
• The combined annual turnover for Unity Kitchen is around £1m, with individual outlets each generating from £30K-£200K
• Every pound spent in Unity Kitchen outlets is reinvested into the cafés to fund the apprenticeships
• The Unity Kitchen enterprises include cafés open to members of the public located in libraries, community centres and a museum, as well as one offering in-house catering for a local authority – Southwark Council
• Unity Kitchen Tooley Street at Southwark Council's new offices in London Bridge is currently the largest branch. It opened in May 2010 and created 14 jobs for local people with disabilities, who were otherwise in receipt of day services funded by the council. It serves 500 people a day
• As well as employment, Unity Kitchen provides an apprenticeship training programme called Unity Works that can lead to an NVQ and other qualifications to help people with disabilities further their careers
• Each new Unity Kitchen branch that opens creates, on average, 20 apprenticeships and five paid jobs
Public Services (Social Value) Act
Since March this year, this new Act has been in force to strengthen the social enterprise business sector and make the concept of 'social value' a more important feature of public services.
It means local authorities are required to include in their sustainable community strategies proposals for promoting social enterprises in their area.
And in public procurement contracts, local authorities must now give greater consideration to economic, social or environmental wellbeing during the pre-procurement stage.
Denise Largin, chief executive of catering social enterprise Unity Kitchen, believes the Public Services Act offers an opportunity for operators like hers.
“It’s asking institutions to look at social value when drawing up a tender, asking them to think about things in a different way.
“It will enable us to at least go back and talk to people because there is now this criteria they have to take into account.
“It might also enable us to develop relationships with other contract caterers; it would be great for them to have reason to talk to us.”