Our impact
We measure success in skills learnt, jobs started and lives rebuilt, and in the great food served along the way.
2007
Founded in a night shelter kitchen
100+
Trainees supported every year
4
Cities across the North of England
100%
Of profit reinvested in our mission
What changes
Four kinds of impact
Skills
Practical cooking, service and food safety skills, backed by recognised certificates.
Confidence
Routine, teamwork and the pride of cooking for paying customers.
Work
Placements, paid shifts and introductions to employers across hospitality.
Stability
Mentoring that continues after training, helping people keep their jobs and their homes.
The social business model
Customers
book catering, events and restaurant tables
Income
pays for chefs, kitchens and mentors
Trainees
learn on the job in those same kitchens
Graduates
move into work, and profits go back in
Typical journeys
What a pathway can look like
Every journey is different. These illustrative pathways show the common routes trainees take through the Academy. Details are composites, shared without personal information.
From shelter to sous chef
- 1 Joins a taster day while staying in supported housing
- 2 Completes Kitchen Foundations and Level 2 Food Hygiene
- 3 Paid placement in the flagship restaurant
- 4 Offered a commis chef role with an employer partner
Finding a voice front of house
- 1 Referred by a support worker after a long period out of work
- 2 Confidence & Wellbeing Starter, then Front of House
- 3 Barista certificate and café shifts
- 4 Now a team leader in a city-centre café
Events crew to coordinator
- 1 Self-referred after seeing Create at a community event
- 2 Catering & Events Crew programme
- 3 Regular paid shifts with our events team
- 4 Promoted to events assistant, now mentoring new trainees
Reporting and accountability
As a Community Interest Company, we publish an annual community interest report explaining how our work has benefited the community and how profits were reinvested. We track trainee progress at the start, middle and end of each programme and keep in touch with graduates for up to a year after they start work.
Want a copy of our latest report or to discuss social value for a tender? Get in touch.
Be part of the impact
Book catering, mentor a trainee or offer a job to a graduate.