Social Enterprise Spotlight – Crescent Kitchen
Posted: 28 February 2017, in Press Release
Our newest Social Enterprise Spotlight is Donna McArdle and Crescent Kitchen – a social enterprise working to provide personal, social and community development opportunities for disadvantaged groups in the areas of Health/Community Care, Education/Training, Social Inclusion/Outreach Activities. Get in touch with Donna at info@crescentkitchen.co.uk and check out crescentkitchen.co.uk and their outside catering menu. Connect with them on Twitter and Facebook too.
Every few weeks we focus on a randomly selected social enterprise member for intense marketing support and promotion. Crescent Kitchen will feature in all e-bulletins, on our website homepage and on all our social media, alongside other support, reaching thousands of people across Scotland and beyond. Want to star in the Spotlight? Email chris.mack@socialenterprise.scot
What’s your social and/or environmental mission? Our mission is to provide a platform for our trainees and volunteers on our Café Training project to participate in helping provide high quality food to local communities and businesses using fresh quality ingredients. Giving them life skills, team/hospitality skills, and increasing confidence under the guidance of our nurturing team.
How do you do it? (Client group, practical daily work, customers) On a daily basis, we have 3 young people, with support needs plus volunteers who come and engage with us and are guided to help us provide the food, acquiring confidence and qualifications along the way.
What’s your personal motivation for being a social entrepreneur? I have set up many Food Social Enterprises and I love using food to engage and increase people’s confidence and abilities. Food also creates a wide diversity of skills and people with the natural inclination for the more able to naturally help the less able which I love facilitating.
What are your current projects? My full-time job is overseeing all food aspects at the Broomhouse Centre Cafe and Crescent Kitchen. I am also co director/ creator of The Real Junk Food Project Edinburgh and Scottish coordinator for The Real Junk Food Project UK. I also provide free expertise to a wide number of new food social enterprises on a regular basis.
What exciting things do you have coming up? We will be providing community meals, this year, working in partnership with other community organisations in Broomhouse and Sighthill. Also, writing bespoke qualifications for life skills/food skills in collaboration with schools and other organisations. I am also about to embark on the creation of a food hub in Edinburgh with a colleague.
Who do you want to work with more? Everyone! Collaboration is key to achieving things. We are starting to work with all the different cultures within the Broomhouse Estate and Sighthill area, with collaboration with all the other great local organisations to reach the amazing diverse range of people who live here.
What’s your biggest challenge? Fitting everything in! I am a great believer in helping people as much as you can and using my knowledge and food is a great way to do that.
What top tips would you give to other social enterprises? Do a feasibility study first? Ask for as much help and support as you can (there are lots of great organisations out there to ask), remember to have a realistic plan and timescale for how quickly or not it can happen, try to aim to be self-sustainable as soon as you can, and have fun doing it!