Wow. We’re finally here!
We have been on what has been an incredibly fun and rewarding journey in the past eight-or-so months. The lovely folks at the City Bridge Trust, part of the City of London awarded us Stepping Stones funding in September 2015 to ensure that Providence Row could build a robust, sustainable, and thriving social enterprise.
Providence Row's Enterprise & Training Team
We at the Enterprise & Training team took responsibility for Providence Row Bakery, a wholesale operation that had been running for the past two years, at this point. We thought that it was a great setup; selling cakes wholesale to local cafes. There have been some amazing results with the trainees we involved too; we worked with 30 clients, supporting many of these into work and training.
This programme provided us with great foundations on which to build. We knew that the concept of a social enterprise bakery was sound, and had a few brilliant weeks of thinking of all the directions which we could take it.
Our team has had incredible results in the past few years. As well as coming second in the London Homelessness Awards (and collecting it from the Houses of Parliament in the process), we have won a Social Justice Award from the Centre for Social Justice and a Lord Mayor’s Dragon Award for the support and training we offer people who have experienced homelessness. Last year alone we worked with 121 clients, working with them to achieve 29 job starts and training outcomes.
Collecting Our Award from the Houses of Parliament
Another really important part of our work is to make sure that our people get their confidence back. We have a 10 week programme of motivational employability workshops, Working On It, designed to give people the soft skills they need to succeed in the workplace. We have worked with some amazing companies here, including Freshfields LLP, Kuoni, and more, getting office tours, staff meet and greets, and excellent training.
But anyway, back to business!
During planning there were three key themes. We wanted to make sure that our products were client-friendly – something that we could teach, but also something that developed rounded baking skills. We also wanted something amazingly tasty, as well as that we could feature produce from our amazing roof garden in later on.
A Trainee At One Of Our Workshops
We were leaning towards focusing on one key product, while still offering a broad wholesale range. What really sealed it was said during one of our early meetings with Unreal UK, an amazing company that supported us to develop our branding and concept on a pro bono basis. They were grumbling about the poor standard of sweet treats available in the stores near them and the logistical difficulties of ordering from a supplier.
We had already noticed that there were really limited options for getting great cakes delivered quickly which could also be easily ordered but this meeting helped spur things on. We set about building this amazing website, as well as developing a product that could easily fit through a letterbox, or that could be sent via courier without getting damaged.
We chose brownies, because they tick every single box. And also because our Head Baker Simon developed the MOST amazing brownie recipe going. We’ve still kept our wholesale presence though – we love our customers, and we can offer them a broader range, which means that our trainees get to learn to make a wide variety of produce – cakes, quiches, mini fruit loaves… you can see the full list here.
Our White Chocolate & Raspberry Brownie
Alongside this, we have really overhauled the client training we offer. Trainees can now access a 12 week programme, a curriculum of baking workshops interspersed with accredited learning (Level 2 Awards in Food Hygiene and more). They also undergo an induction process where a personalised support plan is developed with a dedicated advisor, who supports them to address any mental health, substance misuse, or employment barriers that they face.
I think it’s fair to say that at Rise we’re about two things. Excellent support. And Excellent brownies. And we’re lucky that we work with excellent people to ensure that they have an excellent future. Here’s to us continuing to Rise…
