Our Story
We have come a long way from some friends sat by a river who wanted to bring hope to the hopeless so started a social enterprise. We set up a Coffee Roastery in a Church in Newham, East London a few years ago.
We learnt how to roast and built links with prisons, charities and cafes. We already have customers from individuals to churches and cafes and have an online shop www.secondcrackcoffee.co.uk
So what's the aim?
We want to see as many ex-offenders trained in speciality coffee as we can so they thrive after exiting the justice system. Think former drug dealers transformed into sales managers, and former get-away drivers transformed into logistic experts! We want to become the Timpson's of the coffee world!
Where are we at?
Our coffee has so far been as far as China with a trade delegation from Newham and regularly goes to Prague but most of our customers are in London. We have recently added tea to our range so ex offenders have an extra string to their bow knowing about it!
What's the vision?
Our 2020 vision is to train up 5 ex offenders and then place them in like minded cafes. We want to get the message out about our great coffee and great work to more people in the UK and beyond.
Why is this important?
Re-offending is too high (currently around 60% of those released from prison re-offend within a year) and the ripple effects of crime are devastating. We want to see the positive ripple effects of lives transformed by hope.
We believe people deserve a second crack at life so called it Second Crack Coffee. Don't worry for those coffee experts out there we don't roast to Second Crack (a technical coffee term as well!).
There's a great quote by Roald Dahl that says ”somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world”, that’s our job to dig out the gold in people. We know from our experience that when you believe in people amazing things happen! Plus many research studies back this up.
What kind of people will we be working with?
Those who want to change!
Our first priority is to those with convictions, so those who have exited the justice system. However we also believe it is better if people don't end up in prison in the first place so have some conversations in the pipeline to work with those at risk of offending. Plus if the right opportunities in the future open up we would consider working within prison and youth offending institutions. But one step at a time as we want to do whatever we can with excellence.
We have a great team to achieve this which includes:
Andy Nunn - Founder
Andy has the brain of a business man with the heart of a pastor. He brings a wealth of business experience from his background working in finance with Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital plus has consulted for the Church of England and UK Government. He also knows a lot about coffee from his masters in Economics from Durham University looking at Fair Trade Coffee Producers in Africa to helping set up Cafes in London. Add to that he has worked with those with convictions both inside prison and outside. Plus he has a lot of charity experience from working with them, advising them and being a trustee of one called Bread of Hope!
Ivan Chakraborty - Head Roaster
Ivan has a vast experience in speciality coffee in various capacities from working in coffee farms in Tanzania to setting up coffee businesses in Bangladesh and London.
Ty Curran - Chief Evangelist
Ty has spent his career developing people’s potential, working with troubled youth in Pupil Referral Units and latterly on a youth-led development programme with a major international NGO. He is now a consultant to the Charity Sector and Church led organisations where he focuses on Youth-Led Development and Movement Building. He trained to be a teacher in South Africa but felt the call to explore other ventures in the UK; this is where he helped setup The Sophie Hayes Foundation which supports survivors of trafficking in the UK. His other passion is coffee!
Simeon Welby - Strategy Director
Simeon brings a thorough understanding of the justice system including time spent as a senior strategic manager in the Ministry of Justice, where he looked at expanding rehabilitative business practices within prisons. He has a track record and passion for combining innovative entrepreneurial passion with compassionate empowerment within the necessary governance.
Sarah & Matt from Pardon May - Creative Directors
Sarah and Matt bring with them a wholesome approach to brand development and identity awareness. They share a love of second crack and have built the brand with every understanding of our purpose. They are a team who build brands consciously and have been a positive influence in ensuring we get our message out to market. As a team, both Sarah and Matt have been with us from the early stages helping manage the brand from conceptualisation and identity to our online and social media presence. We highly recommend them www.pardonmay.com
Ben - Chaplain
Ben inhabits the old docklands of East London with a neighbourhood and church movement. As chaplain to Second Crack he brings strategic insight to its leadership and supports the holistic well being of the social enterprise.
We have come so far from an idea to a roastery and just need a little bit of support so we can grow helping more ex offenders.
Basically the more money we can raise the more people we can train and therefore the more lives transformed!
So please give whatever you can and share this with whoever you can from friends to work colleagues and family to neighbours! Why not get some presents for Christmas from this crowdfunding? Or you could do even more good by encouraging your family, workplace, coffee shop and church to switch their coffee supplier to us! Find out more about us here
Questions?
Rewards include postage within the UK mainland. But you can pay a little extra to have your parcel delivered elsewhere:
Europe (including Republic of Ireland) = £4 per delivery e.g. if it's 3 Months Coffee = £12
World Zone 1 (includes USA, Canada, South America, Africa & Asia) = £5 per delivery e.g. if it's 3 Months Coffee = £15
World Zone 2 (includes Australia & New Zealand) = £6 per delivery e.g. if it's 3 Months Coffee = £18
To check which world zone you are in click here
There is an 'Additional amount' button on the payment screen when you go to pay for a reward, which allows the you to add extra on to the payment amount.