1. A community canteen for the local Penge area, run by the community, for the community, showcasing the local home cooking of all segments of the community

2. An accelerated training and development programme targeting 16 20 year old youths, including NEETs, from the Penge area, to provide them with relevant workplace skills to reduce local unemployment and underemployment

3. Affiliated outreach programmes for more vulnerable segments of our local community that could benefit from the Canteen’s activity were they better able in some addressable way

What we'll deliver:

• launch a community canteen, a local magnet for home cooking, real food and alternative eating
• (hopefully) support the launch of more community canteen in other areas
• recruit and train a team of 6-10 local 16-20 year olds, including NEETs;
• secure and shopfit a premises

Why it's a great idea:

1. Real food. Penge has so much great home cooking inside all our kitchens, but so much junk food on our high street. The Penge Community Canteen (PCC) will mobilise the home cooking all our ethnic kitchens, bringing it to the high street to challenge the fast food mainstream.

2. Employability. The PCC will deliver a 6-9 week training programme (subject to starting level, ability and hours worked per week) across 5 core curriculum of ALL aspects of running a profitable foodservice business, and beyond foodservice.

3. Inclusive. The PCC reaches out to key segments of our local community – 16-20 year olds; parents; the elderly. It targets each segment and addresses specific needs or challenges.

4. Local. Local home cooking. Local team members. Local traders supplying ingredients. Local contractors supplying services. Local marketing to a live community of supportive Penge residents. Keeping more of our eating out spend within our local community, not extracted by fast food corporations.

Steps to get it done:

• profitable business
• relevant practical training
• understand the target market
• motivated volunteers
• sufficient funding

maintain a motivated team of local volunteers and supporters

understand the training and employment needs of local 16-20 target team members

develop a structured training programme that meets the needs of team members, wherever relevant with applicable qualifications and certification

raise sufficient funding to secure, shopfit and open the Penge Community Canteen

offer a compelling menu for eat in, take home and ready meal options that attracts sufficient custom and delivers sufficient profit