Swarm learns more about The Feed Cafe
One of Swarm’s values is COMMUNITY, and we pledge to support good causes.
Sam Bryant, part of the team at Swarm Recruitment, has been donating her time to local social enterprise, The Feed, supporting those seeking work with improving their CVs and interview skills.
In 2022, I was invited to The Feed, Norwich, with my colleague Sam to meet with their Marketing Manager, Chris and find out what they are all about and if there was anything more that Swarm could do to support them. I knew from speaking with Sam, that The Feed is a social enterprise with a mission to motivate change in people to prevent poverty, hunger, and homelessness in Norwich.
We met at The Feed’s Prince of Wales café, and as soon as we arrived, we received a very warm welcome from Chris and his dog Roxy. The café smelt amazing, and I couldn’t wait to try out the amazing food that Sam had told me all about. But first, we had a drink and had a detailed chat about The Feed and their incredible journey.
The first public retail outlet for The Feed was a stall on Norwich Market. The purpose of the stall was to sell Fresh Street Food, to generate revenue to fund employment education, training, and accommodation projects. In 2018, the time had come to bring together all the activity of The Feed under one roof and they found their Prince of Wales cafe. This gave them an indoor cafe space, a full kitchen to provide supported work experience programmes, office space and storage. Despite the challenges of the covid pandemic, they found ways to grow and opened four new cafés in nine months alongside starting a catering enterprise which is going from strength to strength. In summer 2022 they acknowledged the need for even more community support, so opened a Social Supermarket.
I was so pleased to have been invited to The Feed café on Prince of Wales Road, as I was able to see firsthand how the organisation is transforming people’s lives. The menu at the café contained so many healthy and fresh options which tasted great. Additionally, the money made in the café goes towards multiple community projects. Some of the projects include Nourish (providing a hot evening meal to vulnerable people and rough sleepers), Bloom (a 12-week programme run by women for women, improving well-being and providing new skills), Supported Work Experience and so many more.
The Feed CiC is an amazing charitable organisation that provides support to those who need it most. The Swarm Group is happy to continue supporting such a worthwhile project.
Check out The Feed website, to see how you too can help!
Picture: Sam Bryant, Swarm Recrutiment and Chris Elliot, MD of The Feed