Social programs around Australia draw on the hospitality industry to improve outcomes for people, but what makes coffee such a potent tool for change?
Coffee has the power to change lives – from origin all the way to the end customer.
Australasia – with a high standard of coffee consumer culture and competitive café and roaster landscape – presents an opportunity to tap into that potential and enrich the lives of people all around the country – regardless of their background.
There are several social enterprises using hospitality as a way to improve outcomes for people facing barriers to employment whether it be disability, incarceration, or individuals from migrant communities.
One of these, The Little Social, has expanded to operate four venues around Melbourne, all of which work to embolden the lives of the initiative’s participants.
“Our social enterprise began in 2014 as a little hole in the wall café on Hosier Lane,” says The Little Social Head of Social Enterprise, Celeste Norris. “Our goal was to use coffee as a vehicle to create a holistic model of support for young people.
“Our organisation is extremely proud of building a social enterprise that has sustained a viable model for 11 years.
“The growth of The Little Social across four locations in Melbourne is a direct result of our 3P model (profit, purpose, product), partners, and social procurement. It’s driven with the head of a commercial business and the heart of a charity.”
That 3P model along with a commercial head has seen locations at the Paula Fox Melanoma and Cancer Centre, Victorian Pride Centre, and The Alfred Hospital open.
Celeste says the coffee community has rallied around the cause and enabled The Little Social to place its focus on its charitable core and broaden its scope.
“Our partners, including La Marzocco and Reverence Roasters, provide discounted stock, gift equipment, and often peppercorn rent to support the financial viability of the enterprise and allow us to redirect resources into social impact.
“Our commercial kitchen then unlocked our second revenue stream – catering, which has reduced reliance on café turnover while increasing exposure to social procurement opportunities. It’s also introduced a new training environment for young people who prefer back-of-housework.
“The Little Social is successful because we have built a commercially viable business model that happens to create social impact, not the other way around – and now we get to prove that great coffee can change lives.”
STREAT, also based in Victoria, is harnessing hospitality to create change too, but in a different way.
STREAT has 12 Melbourne CBD locations – all with the purpose of on-the-job training for vulnerable young people aged 16-24 years. Not only does STREAT run hospitality businesses, it also has a team of allied health proffessionals as part of its integrated team.
One of it’s venues , is in the suburb of Parkville, where incarcerated youth at the Parkville, Malmsbury, and Cherry Creek Youth Justice Precinct work and train are provided the opportunity to be part of the STREAT program.
It also operates other youth programs, including its STREATwise knowledge, innovation, and consulting arm, a catering company, a coffee roastery and a range of other cafés with similar societal goals.
Deputy CEO Elise Bennetts says with so many of STREAT’s participants having come into contact with the youth justice system it made sense to expand to the Parkville site.
“Since 2020 STREAT has operated a beautiful café at the Parkville Youth Justice Precinct to create pathways for young men and women exiting custody at the Parkville, Malmsbury, or Cherry Creek Youth Justice Precincts. Over the last five years this program has provided more than 10,000 hours of support and skilling to incarcerated young people,” says Elise.
“We are seeing more and more contact with justice as part of our cohort and we know that STREAT’s team are able to support the most complex issues associated with these young people.
“We spent almost 10 years trying to find a way of working closely with youth justice, beginning our work bringing young people to Collingwood but knowing that if we could work with young people whilst incarcerated, we can build trust opening up more opportunities upon release.”
“Our programs aim to create effective transitions of young people into STREAT’s programs or further employment or study. Young people are offered shifts in the Parkville café alongside STREAT’s experienced baristas, chefs, and hospitality staff,” says Elise.
“Hospitality is not the only outcome for these young people, but it provides them with an opportunity to set goals and challenges their options upon release. We use our 15 businesses to introduce work-readiness, but if a young person’s goal is to start studying or move back home, our transitions team will work with them.
“STREAT has recently opened its Purpose Precinct at Queen Victoria Market – this precinct includes a café, pantry, retail stores, and an innovation kitchen. It’s our next step into jobs pathways on-site. It needs funding, but we see it as a next step in providing more opportunities for those who need it most.”
Celeste and The Little Social have also seen firsthand the power that skills gained in a café environment can have on improving the long-term prospects for young people – even away from the industry.
“It may sound simple, but having a new skill under their belt and feeling a sense of belonging to a team can see young people’s confidence skyrocket,” she says.
“The hospitality skills they learn are an engagement tool. The real impact comes from learning routine, social connectedness, transferrable skills, confidence, and building and creating an identity.”
Many of the young people coming through the program are experiencing barriers to work including homelessness, mental health challenges, caregiving responsibility, or drug and alcohol use.
“They have not experienced a positive workplace, and in some cases have not experienced a workplace at all,” Celeste says.
“Even if hospitality is not their favoured industry, the program is a safe step on the pathway into employment.”
The proof of these programs is in the pudding. Both The Little Social and STREAT report huge personal changes in participants.
Elise says respect and patience create the conditions for progress.
“We see traumatised young people come into our programs and within a short time they can be working their first jobs. The confidence shift is incredible. These huge changes need to be at the speed required, it needs to be individualised, and we need to build trust – often with people who live in a world without it,” she says.
“We hear it from their quotes every day, where they tell us they feel comfortable in an environment without judgement, that it’s teaching how good men behave, that the kindness comes from the start and they’re made to feel welcome, and that it’s good for keeping them out of prison.”
“STREAT now has more than 80 fully qualified baristas, bakers, chefs, and kitchen hands from all over the world. Together with our social workers and youth workers, they’re the mentors to our young people,” says Elise.
“Our young people are on shift with two qualified workers and are provided with the time and patience to learn at their pace in a real-life work environment. It’s an expensive way to run a hospitality venue but its changing lives with every coffee poured or meal made.”
Whether it be through nationwide initiatives like CafeSmart, or more localised services like Perth’s Healthy Hospo, few industries can be a force for social good like the café scene.
Celeste has called on every café around the country to implement some sort of social initiative into its operations not only for the benefit of individual staff members, but for everyone involved.
“I believe employers just need to give young people a crack. Sometimes it may require an extra level of support but imagine if all hospitality businesses found ways to embed a small level of social impact in their business models,” she says.
“We would see young people build independence and identity in the workforce, which then contributes back into the economy. Employees also feel a sense of purpose in a workplace that contributes to something bigger than making money.
“Young people just need an inclusive space to grow and thrive, mentorship can be lifechanging, and they simply need someone to take the time and show them the ropes. Then, they can contribute back to the business tenfold.”
