Feeding back

Being a company that cares for its wider community and planet isn’t just a nice thing to do, it is becoming increasingly important for future business success, with research by workplace benefits specialist Umum in its Future Workplace Report 2018 saying 61% of employees feel companies should make a positive contribution to society and 59% saying they want to work for a company with a powerful social conscience.

It seems companies just having a CSR policy is becoming outdated and perceived as an add-on by employees, with many successful brands and operators moving towards values and projects which are more embedded in their company culture and embraced hands-on by teams.

However, a strong social impact and engagement focus isn’t just about attracting and retaining employees but customers too, with FleishmanHillard Fishburn’s Purpose Trends Survey 2018 showing that 93% of Millennials base their product preferences on whether they believe a brand is ‘purposeful’.

Giving back to society

Pieminister is among operators who run projects to support UK and international charities. Managing director Jon Simon says: “It’s the right thing to do, to give back to society if you can. It’s also a great way to connect with customers through a different approach and to reinforce the way you want people to see your business.” He adds: “Internally it unites staff, giving people another reason to take pride in what they do and the company they work for.”

Eleven-site operator The Breakfast Club, decided three years ago to do more than just fundraise and got staff involved in community projects and charities chosen by their teams. Since then, 250 team members have undertaken 6,000 volunteer hours, including around 100 community workshops.

The company works on a model where staff get paid for volunteer project work in addition to their main working hours, but with a cap on the number of volunteer hours they can do.

Despite its recently withdrawn crowdfunding campaign, the company still plans to open a community café (which part of the funding bid was cited for) and is pushing ahead with further community outreach and social inclusion projects. Successful initiatives already established included textile workshops for women refugees, community cafés for the elderly, and team members helping weekly at drop-in homeless shelters and cookery workshops for people recovering from alcohol and drug addictions.

Eva Arnaiz, TBC’s head of people and charities, says: “The volunteer projects have many benefits to the business. It has been really positive for recruitment and retaining people and we have also been given reduced rent at some sites as landlords want us in a development because of the community work we do.”

She adds: “It is great for team members to come out of their sites and develop new skills which are transferable back into our cafés. It is also good for training, such as planning and running projects, which can help get people ready to become managers.”

Connecting with locals

Another benefit is connecting team members to other people in their local communities. Arnaiz says: “People can feel disjointed, especially in London. Many staff are from overseas and don’t have family nearby and really benefit from getting to know local people through the projects. Being a volunteer has also helped staff with mental health problems.”

New projects planned under its social action platform Good Day Productions aim to further support diversity and inclusion of marginalised groups, as well as social outreach, and the company offers support and advice to other hospitality operators looking to focus on social action initiatives.

Josh Eggleton, owner/co-owner of six Bristol restaurants and non-exec director of Bristol Beer Factory, has social engagement at the heart of his businesses.

The Michelin-starred chef features in the forthcoming Channel 4 programme The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes, which sees him run a pop-up restaurant with volunteers who have dementia, with the aim of raising awareness of the illness that is now a bigger killer in the UK than cancer.

Eggleton said: “I learnt a lot doing the programme. It is important to raise awareness of what dementia means, and also awareness that you are able to adapt your business to accommodate people living with dementia or disability.”

He adds: “Social engagement and getting involved in your local community is extremely important. I think it creates a sense of positivity within your workplace and can also present new opportunities for your team. It helps people grow as individuals when they are exposed to different aspects of society.”

Dining4Dementia initiative

The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes has inspired a Dining4Dementia initiative by the Alzheimer’s Society, appealing to restaurant operators to get involved for one weekend (18-19 May), which will launch Dementia Action Week 2019 by offering people with dementia the opportunity to buddy up with restaurant staff and volunteer front of house.

Jack Everett of the Alzheimer’s Society says: “Dining4Dementia shows that with the right support and some small adjustments, many people with dementia can continue to contribute to the workplace and, by doing so, will breakdown stigmas, end the awkwardness and start conversations.”

Eggleton, who founded The School of Food with chef Adrian Kirikmaa in Bristol a year ago to train young chefs already working in the food sector, is also planning to open a venue in Bristol this year to house the training school, a community kitchen and events space to help further support community projects in the city.

He says: “The plan is to use leftover food that gets donated to Bristol projects and make it into dishes to extend its shelf life, such as making chicken legs into chicken curry and freezing for the homeless shelter.”

Steps to positive change

Peach Pub Company is another business seeing the benefits of being a company that supports social impact projects through its Peach Foundation, a non-profit organisation created in 2013 which gives grants to improve communities and the future sustainability of our world. It is supported by fundraising within Peach, a 25p contribution from every Superfood salad sold in its pubs and sponsored events.

Hamish Stoddart, the company’s managing director, says: “Being a company that cares makes sense for the wellbeing of our teams and our guests. It also makes a lot of sense in terms of cost-cutting (green initiatives often save money) and it helps with team engagement and retention.”

One venture the company has taken a hands-on approach with is Herds for Growth, funding a breeding herd of beef cattle for the Enonkishu community in Kenya as part of a project set up by Stoddart’s cousins. Last year £55,000 was raised to buy a herd of 160 cows and employ herders, and Peach team members regularly visit the project to check on progress.

Stoddart adds: “Peach’s CSR policy isn’t going to solve the worlds’ problems but if we all take a step towards making a positive change, it is going to influence the world in which we work and help create an economy where we would all sooner do business.”

Offering work placements

Working with people with physical or learning disabilities on both work placements and paid employment is another way operators are working to the benefit of both parties. The Breakfast Club works with charities including Mencap to recruit team members and the Down’s Syndrome Association’s WorkFit programme, which brings employers together with jobseekers and has seen people with Down’s Syndrome employed in companies including Hilton Hotels, Marriot Hotels, Travelodge and Whitbread’s Premier Inn.

New World Trading Company works with organisations including United Response to deliver supported employment opportunities for those with learning disabilities.

Among other initiatives, NWTC has run autism-friendly family brunches and a partnership with Barnardo’s, which includes team members hosting activities such as mindfulness sessions, art workshops, cookery programmes and Christmas parties in sites for young carers. Community initiatives organised by Oakman Inns include raising money for trees for The Woodland Trust, and team members get involved in planting and organising street parties to help bring neighbourhoods together.

Supporting those in need

Giving away food to support those most in need in the community is an ever-growing initiative also being employed by operators.

At Vesta restaurant in Edinburgh, which is a partnership with David Hall (former retail managing director of Innis & Gunn Beer Kitchens) and Social Bite – the social enterprise aiming to end homelessness in Scotland – customers can ‘pay it forward’ when settling their bill and donate the cost of a coffee, lunch or dinner, with 100% of their donation going to Social Bite’s charity to distribute the food. The venue is also open exclusively on Monday afternoons to serve a two-course lunch to the homeless.

Pieminister runs a ‘Little Acts of Pie-ness’ campaign, which has seen over 70,000 pies donated to charities and community projects since 2016. Its Black Pieday on Black Friday, which has run for several years, sees staff running pop-up pie shops with all money raised for Shelter. In May, the company is launching a beer with Freedom Brewery called Pieminister 5%, with 5% from all beer sales donated to a good cause.

Simon says: “Being known as a company that cares definitely helps us attract

and retain staff who share our values. New recruits often tell us it was this part of what we do that made them want to work with us.”

Franco Manca also gives away food to homeless shelters and soup kitchens. Operations manager Sandro Spahiusays: “In March 2018, when the Beast from the East hit, we did a mass pizza giveaway to help people who were going hungry or sleeping rough in the harsh conditions. It was hugely successful and the team loved being a part of it, so we have continued to run it at various points of the year, including the Christmas period.”

Pizza giveaways at Christmas

The company also opened two restaurants last Christmas Day to give away free pizza to policemen and women, firefighters and NHS staff working on the day.

Spahiu adds: “It’s important to give back. We know that pizza is for sharing and believe this should not be limited to our paying customers but also to those who aren’t able to enjoy small pleasures such as meals out with friends and loved ones.”

Supporting clean water projects is a cause being championed by many operators. Crepeaffaire is among those signed up to the Refill app, offering people free water stations to refill their water bottles. Kristina Sawyer, the company’s digital marketing executive, says: “We wanted to have a positive impact on the refill revolution, help reduce the use of plastic bottles and help keep the UK hydrated. The scheme was really easy to get involved with.”

She adds: “Getting involved can improve footfall in stores and positively raise awareness of your brand as well. It is great for staff morale, and they may feel more inspired to bring more ideas to the company too.”

Crepeaffaire is launching a new feature on its app this month. Give Back With Feedback will enable customers to donate 5p to the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity when submitting feedback about their visit.

Free filtered water

Pret has also extended the rollout of in-store water fountains offering free filtered water at two-thirds of its sites, both to customers and non-customers, following its introduction at 70 sites last year.

Last May Pieminister began a partnership with charity Frank Water, which provides safe water and sanitation in India and Nepal. For every table which takes tap water in Pieminister restaurants, a discretionary 75p donation to Frank is added to the bill, with £9,000 raised so far. In its smaller cafés, profits from Frank’s glass-bottled sparkling and still spring water ago directly towards the charity.

Social enterprise Belu Water is also helping hospitality operators raise money for charity WaterAid by providing a free filtration system. In return, businesses agree to raise voluntary £1 contributions with guests for unlimited still or sparkling filtered water.

A simple way for companies to show a social conscience is stocking brands which directly support charities such as craft beer Brewgooder, which gives 100% of its profits to clean water charities and is brewed for them by BrewDog at zero margin. Another brewer with a social impact agenda is Tap Social Criminally Good Beer, a craft brewery in Oxfordshire which provides training courses for people serving prison sentences.

If planning to get involved in projects with charities, it is important to engage with the organisation about which types of activity and ways of engagement will work best. As The Breakfast Club’s Arnaiz says: “I’m not the expert, the charity is. They know how best to engage with groups you will be working with. Talk to charities about what they want and need. For our refugee craft workshops, we set up a creche run by some of our staff to look after attendees’ children, as this was a need. For our events with organisations such as Age UK, they don’t want activities organised but just a chance to have a chat and a cup of tea. Each group has different needs.”

■ Jo Bruce is a freelance writer specialising in the food and drink sectors