Coffee social enterprise launched in Camden to support young people into employment

Honest Grind Coffee is a brand-new social enterprise helping young people to gain valuable work experience by learning about the different stages of coffee production.

Based at the Avalon Project in Euston, the programme supports young people through the weighing, roasting, bagging, and sales administration of coffee with a view to them gaining future employment in the industry.

Participants are referred to the programme through the Camden Youth Justice Service, with the scheme’s wider mission to provide more young people with employment opportunities and training.

Councillor Sabrina Francis, cabinet member for Young People and Culture, said: “Honest Grind Coffee is a fantastic and innovative initiative aimed at providing disadvantaged young people with the skills, training and work experience needed to gain good employment in the future. As a borough, our priority is to create opportunities for our young people to succeed and flourish, and I’m confident this programme will help us to achieve this. All profits will be invested back into this programme to hopefully reach even more young people in the years to come.”  

Marsha Brown, who manages the Honest Grind Coffee programme, said: “The purpose of Honest Grind Coffee is to support vulnerable young people into employment, looking at the needs of the whole person and tailoring training to each young person. This is not about the finish line, it’s about the progress each young person can achieve throughout this scheme, with a goal to give young people the skills and confidence to choose employment, within coffee or elsewhere.”

The coffee is sustainably sourced, supporting small farmers and helping to build local infrastructure where it is grown and will be available for purchase online.

Those on the programme will be paid in line with the London Living Wage and profits from every bag sold will be invested back into the programme to create more opportunities for young people.  

Honest Grind Coffee will be available to buy from Wednesday 8 March 2023 at Honest-Grind.

Related content

Leave a reply

Tea & Coffee Trade Journal