Fine dining restaurant staffed by homeless people to open in Primrose Hill
I am excited to announce the launch of Home Kitchen, a fine dining restaurant in London’s Primrose Hill, which will be staffed by previously homeless individuals. This initiative will replace Bryn Williams’ Odette’s, bringing a fresh and impactful dining experience to the area.
Home Kitchen will offer our staff the London Living Wage, travel expenses, and professional culinary qualifications provided by the Beyond Food Foundation. Once new recruits pass their 90-day probation, they will receive further training at Westminster Kingsway College. Our initial team of 16 recruits will be supported by myself, the Head Chef, General Manager, Assistant General Manager, and an experienced leadership team with backgrounds in both the charity and hospitality sectors. We have collaborated with organisations like Beam, Soup Kitchen London, Change Please, Beyond Food Foundation, and the Passage to kickstart the hiring process.
This project has been over two years in the making and was initially planned as a pop-up in Victoria following a successful £450,000 crowdfunding campaign. One of our co-founders, Alexander Brown, revealed that we are in promising negotiations to launch a second restaurant in Brighton and San Francisco, thanks to conversations with potential backers. The first step in our journey will be proving the commercial and social impact of Home Kitchen Primrose Hill.
Home Kitchen will act as an accelerant out of poverty for our recruits and an incubator of untapped talent for the catering industry. I believe the restaurant business is an ideal vehicle for social impact, as changing perceptions in this industry can inspire broader societal change. All profits from Home Kitchen will be reinvested into expanding the social enterprise business across the UK and globally.
Andrew Fishwick, founder and chief executive of Hestia Hospitality, shared on Instagram: “Primrose Hill was chosen as the first site for a dining concept with a mission to scale to other cities with significant homeless communities – in the UK and internationally. I’ve had the privilege of working with this group of legends for the past 18 months in building and developing Home Kitchen – the social impact restaurant.”
“My dream is to unlock the support of more corporations and sponsors to get behind us in growing our mission across the UK and, in the future, around the globe..”
For more information about the restaurant visit: www,homekitchenlondon.org
