By Grace Clift
There’s only one thing better than coffee – coffee with a cause.
Fair Shot Cafe is the hotspot for hangouts that help the community – plus, their food is fantastic. The cafe trains young adults with learning disabilities in key customer service skills, and then supports them in the job hunt within their local area.
Their “Employment Programme” involves a supported internship within the cafe, including 880 hours of training in interview skills, mental health, workplace safety, and barista skills. The learners then receive a transition guide to their new job, weekly check-ins, a dedicated job coach, and safeguarding discounts.
The cafe is tucked away in a side street in Covent Garden, but its light, bright design makes it a pastel haven for Londoners.
Chef Tilly designs a simple, clear menu each season which is easy to grasp for the learners. The menu includes sandwiches, breakfasts, and seasonal specials – a soup of the day and a galette of the day. On the day I arrived, there were kimchi aioli sandwiches and an aubergine sandwich on display, both made with focaccia.
I spoke to marketing manager, Morag Hutcheson, about how the design of the cafe caters to its learners. She pointed to the large numbers above every table, and told me that these help learners who struggle to remember the layout of the floor. There is a separate barista bar to the food section, to split up responsibilities into more manageable chunks, and the floor includes lots of big, open spaces to avoid overwhelm.
The till has images above each product, both for easy familiarisation with the menu and for learners with dyslexia. If learners are overwhelmed, there is a room with low lighting and noise cancelling walls to deregulate in.
So far, Fair Shot Cafe has supported 45 adults out of unemployment. It comes alongside a number of other support cafes, like Chocolate & Co, which supports recovering addicts out of unemployment. As the summer comes into full swing, it’s a great opportunity to see whether similar initiatives exist in your local area – or, just swing by Fair Shot for a homemade lemonade and some focaccia!
Surround Sound 