Christmas partnership with Beyond Food
Searcys at The Gherkin partners with the Beyond Food Foundation over the Christmas period: the charitable organisation that inspires, supports and educates vulnerable adults.
We are proud to be launching our Christmas campaign with the Beyond Food Foundation for the second year. The company-wide campaign launched in November 2018 and aims to raise the charity’s awareness across our range of venues and events. Beyond Food aims to help those who are most at risk of homelessness to gain meaningful employment.
Rough sleeping in London has more than doubled in the last six years with well over a thousand people sleeping on the streets of the capital city every night (Source: Rough Sleeping Statistics Autumn 2017, England). Beyond Food plays a key role in supporting vulnerable adults who are at risk of, or have experienced, homelessness to gain meaningful employment.
Through inviting guests to add a pound to their restaurant and event bills throughout November and December, Searcys raised over £13,000. The funds raised will go to support Beyond Food projects and fight homelessness.
“We are hugely proud to get behind this initiative with Beyond Food, a charity that is really close to our hearts. The holiday season is a crucial time for the hospitality industry to celebrate joy and happiness, but also an important time for charitable giving which will support the future generations of chefs.” says Anna Fenten, Head of Communications, Brand and Marketing at Searcys.
Jobs in Hospitality
Beyond Food runs a series of four training programmes to help break the cycle of poverty. Their flagship training programme, The United Kitchen Apprenticeship, is a two-year fully certified paid apprenticeship programme where apprentices study towards a NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery. The apprentices spend their first year working in Brigade, a unique social enterprise restaurant situated near London Bridge, followed by a further year at another professional kitchen in London. Since Beyond Food first started in 2010, over 1,200 people have completed the training programmes and over 120 apprentices have been employed through Brigade since 2011.
The graduates have gone on to find employment in other restaurants, hotels and catering companies after completing their training with the charity. Next year Searcys will be working with the charity to provide job placements for Beyond Food culinary graduates within their catering venues and restaurants.
Simon Boyle, Chef Founder of Beyond Food says: “We appreciate that as a leading hospitality business, Searcys is supporting our work at the Beyond Food Foundation. With the generous contribution of Searcys and its incredible customers, we are able to help move more people into stable employment within the hospitality industry and support them whilst they adapt to and continue to build their new independent lives.”
Last year, Brigade and Beyond Food won the UK Social Enterprise Award under ‘Education, Training & Jobs’ category. This October, Simon Boyle was presented with the Extra Mile Award at the annual Foodservice Cateys, run by The Caterer.
