This is an award winning sustainability project. Funding will pay for an extension to our cafe to ensure Growhampton can continue its work.
by growhampton in Roehampton Lane
We will use any further funding to develop new Growhampton initiatives that engage our students, staff and local community to eat healthier and live more sustainability. This will ensure that we can bring sustainable food to more people of London.
Eighteen months ago we arrived at the University of Roehampton. We dug out the lawns, put up a polytunnel and planted veg ……lots of veg. In the blink of an eye, a shipping container arrived on campus, scaffold boards had been recycled into tables and triple certified (organic, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance) artisan coffee was being served from The Hive Café is open to everyone on campus and the general public. We hooked up with local businesses, supporting them and keeping our food miles low to bring delicious, healthy and environmentally friendly food to students, staff and the local community. Before we knew it The Hive had been named the winner of the Soil Association 2015 Organic Eating Out Award and we had scooped up a very prestigious Highly Commended Green Gown Award. What’s more, our superstar customers who have purchased Feel Good Bakery sandwiches have provided 10,000 meals for children in developing countries.
Our amazing student volunteers tend to the growing spaces and pick & pack the organically grown veggies to bring them down to the weekly farmer’s market, where you can also pick up home-made bread and perhaps a bargain from the pop-up thrift shop. The latest venture is our very own flock of backyard hens so that we can add fresh free range eggs to our market stalls.
Growhampton was established with funding from the NUS Students’ Green Fund, which comes to an end at the end of August. This funding enabled us amongst all of our other good work, to establish the extra-ordinary Hive Café which is the social enterprise part of our Growhampton operation. It’s special because we care about what we serve and who we serve it to. Students, staff and the local community have become our customers and our friends. In an independent survey we have been voted as the number one food provider on campus – thanks guys.
However, The Hive, although beautifully formed, is quite small and currently there isn’t enough seating space for everyone when it’s rainy or a bit chilly outside (which is most of the time unfortunately). As a response to customer demand we want to be bigger, so that more of you can spend more quality time with us. Bigger means adding an additional shipping container to our unique structure to triple the seating space for our customers.
20k will pay for the additional shipping container which will provide three times as much seating and an even more wonderful environment. This funding and the outcome of providing more seating will go along way to ensuring the project can continue to fund itself beyond the end of its external funding.
The money from your support will be spent on the following:
£2000 - Laying the foundation work
£7500 - New Container
£3000 - Cutting and welding the container
£5000 - Internal Decorating
£1500 - Lights and Power and Kitchen Equipment
An additional container will create much more usable and flexible seating space for you to do what you want to do: Chill out, meetings, studying and socialising. Groups will be able to reserve tables and hire the space out for private events. The new oven means we can expand our menu, creating healthy delicious lunches using even more ingredients grown by us.
As a social enterprise, the additional income from a greater number of customer’s gives our project a secure future. We will be able to continue to run our growing sites, provide volunteering opportunities for our students, support businesses and organisations in the community and continue our much loved farmer’s market.
If you’re not able to contribute but like what we’re doing, get the word out! Shout about us on twitter (@the_hive_cafe and @growhampton) and Facebook (Growhampton), whatsapp it to your friends, email it to your colleagues and talk about it your family. And feel free to get in touch, or come say hello, grab a coffee give us a high five!
This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.