Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen group and former Fifteen chef and nephew of Mick Jagger, Arthur Potts Dawson’s social enterprise, Acorn House may be the most high profile ventures to undertake the training of disadvantaged youngsters but now Thomasina Miers’ Mexican mini chain, Wahaca has partnered up with The Prince’s Trust. The group’s new Canary Wharf venture has been actively targeting young people living in the capital’s Centrepoint hostels with a two week course which marks the latest in an on-going programme.
And now, seven unemployed Londoners have defied the credit crunch by scooping jobs at the restaurant. The course, which comes at a time when one in four 18 to 24-year-olds in the capital are on the dole, gives unemployed young people training and qualifications in the cooking industry and provides an opportunity for them to improve their employability in a safe and supportive environment, building skills and confidence alongside other young people facing similar challenges.
Single mum Shoya Nelson, 22, from Enfield was one of the lucky seven who were taken on by the company and started work last month . She had been unemployed for over a year after becoming a mother and the longer she was out of work the more daunted she felt.
However, trying to remain positive, she would cook dinner for everyone in her hostel each Friday night. Her key worker noticed Shoya’s talent for cooking and recommended she take The Prince's Trust ‘Get into Cooking’ course. Shoya said: “It was brilliant. Wahaca treated us like one of their own staff and didn’t look down on us because we were new. I learnt so much from my experience there, all about teamwork and how to communicate better - key skills when working in a kitchen.”
And the Wahaca team was so impressed that they offered her a permanent role as a chef. She said: “I was getting so desperate to work. I just feel so happy I have been given a chance to do a job that I love.”
Mark Selby and Thomosina Miers, co-founders of Wahaca are also delighted with the outcome, saying that “it is a really exciting scheme which we are now looking to run on a permanent basis through all our restaurants.”
Since the charity was founded in 1976, The Prince’s Trust has helped over 600,000 young people across the UK and continues to support 100 more every working day.
But eating at these ventures isn’t your only option to spread a little festive cheer. If all this has given you some food for thought, you can also make a difference to London’s homeless population by participating in the StreetSmart scheme. Until the end of the year, book a table at one of the 300 of the capital’s restaurants taking part and £1 on top of your bill will go to help over 90 homelessness charities. Since the scheme was established in 1998, it has raised over £3,700,000.
Dining out has never been so rewarding!
www.princes-trust.org.uk
www.streetsmart.org.uk
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Food for thought
