Healthy Community Café Network

In 2003 as part of a regional food project, trading standards in MidCOTS sampled prepacked ready meals. The results were not that surprising in they showed that meals were often high in salt, fat and sugar.

However having discovered and publicised this MidCOTS as a region decided to go one step further and working with a nutritionist from Staffordshire Trading Standards designed a recipe booklet called “Healthy simple and affordable – recipe ideas for the family”.

In addition to this they designed a credit card providing information on nutrition labelling. Sandwell Trading Standards then decided to promote this to the local communities using their local Primary Care Trust and distribute the booklets and cards via the Healthy Café Network.

Aims and Objectives

The cafes began when community groups worked together and carried out an assessment of the needs of their particular area. They then approached the local authorities to request for assistance and to join their efforts together to bid for funding.

The original aim of the projects was two fold:

To create an awareness of healthy eating.
To create more social interaction within the communities

Organisations involved

1. Healthy Living Network, which is headed by Peter Davies. New Opportunities Funding currently funds this work, however it is soon to change to the Primary Care Trust.

2. Food Policy Advisory Board – this Board consists of representatives from Trading Standards, Environmental Health, Primary Care Trust, Planning, and from voluntary and community sector.

Angela actually works in the Joint Policy Unit, which is funded by both the PCT and the local authority (Social Inclusion and Health).

The section of the PCT that has been involved is Food Policy and the Nutrition and Dietetic Service, which consists of the following:

Food Project Workers
5 a day co-ordinators
Healthy Catering Awards
Community Dietician
Food and Health Advisor for Children

3. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Trading Standards and Environmental Health Department: they have provided a healthy recipe booklet and advice card on nutritional information. Angela has distributed this booklet to each of the cafes, and it is hoped that the meals will be incorporated into the menus, and customers will take away the booklets and try out the recipes at home. In future, the booklet will be used for practical cooking, training sessions and used in the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) Food Interest Groups to discuss cost, healthy adaptations and food labelling.

Target Audience

Local communities.

Methodology

Each café was developed with help of the Primary Care Trust as a result of assessments that had been carried out by each of the communities. Each audit had advised that there were no places in the area for communities to get together for a chat in comfortable safe surroundings. As the cafés began to set up it was recognised that this would be a good opportunity to have access to these local communities by the local authorities and Primary Care Trusts and the idea of a Healthy Community Café Network was devised.

A community café will take up to 3 years to develop into a good working project, as will a network, although this has been essential to the success. It may also be worthwhile considering how existing cafes that are visited by the local community could be linked into healthy eating projects.

A highly recommended book that should be used is: "Food Projects and how they work" by the Joseph Roundtree Foundation – an essential read when developing food projects.

Funding

All monies so far have been provided by New Opportunities Funds. Some cafés received £35,000 towards developing the kitchen and purchasing equipment and each now receives £10,000 per annum as a contribution towards the running of the café. Any other money needed is raised either by fund-raising or by the cafes having links with other organisations.

From November 2004 there is only 1 ½ years left of funding which will be supplied by the Primary Care Trust but after this the cafes will each have to show how their success has contributed to healthier eating and how it has benefited their local communities, and therefore hopefully they can attract additional funding.

So far only the café linked with the YMCA has been successful in self-financing. The others are working however it has been difficult in some cases to analyse the budgets carefully as this work is left to the cooks, none of which have received any financial management skills.

A useful book to refer to for bidding for funding is the "Guide to Bidding" by Jenny Middleton. The book outlines techniques and exercises to help users devise good and fundable projects.

Recruitment

Jo-Anne Faulconbridge (previous Healthy Catering had undertaken some previous research, (Previous Healthy Catering Projects Officer funded by Health Action Zone funds) therefore a job specification had been drawn up for cooks. The applicant had to have the Basic Food Hygiene Certificate and their commitment to working with and for communities was also questioned. All cooks needed to have very good people skills and ideally have experience in book keeping, and marketing. Although these latter two skills have not been so far obtainable, in some cases there had not been a great deal of interest in the posts and the cooking and commitment to the local community has been more highly sort after.

Activities/Sessions

The Healthy Cafe Network, co-ordinated by Angela, links each of the cafes together. Monthly ‘Grow, cook and eat’ workshop sessions are held where the cooks can meet to talk about their experiences and discuss how they wish for the network to develop. For example – they may talk about fund – raising ideas or ways to promote the café to the community more effectively. The menus are also discussed, and Angela provides some advice on healthy options that could be used. The Trading Standards Recipe booklet has also been promoted at one of the workshops and the cafes are being encouraged to try out the recipes and promote the booklets to their customers.

Each of the cafés also works with their local community providing food for various groups i.e. the Women’s Refuge, Mother and toddlers, Sure Start, and local teachers at the nearby schools.

Management and Staffing

The main funding is provided by the Healthy Living Network, which is headed by Peter Davies. Angela now spends between 1-3 days per month on the project, however during the initial set up period it was as much as 1 week per month, and often more.

The cafes are open at different times of the day and week depending on their cooks and the needs of the local community. For example Smart Byte café only needs 1 cook, and is open Monday – Friday 09.30am to 2.30pm, whereas the café at the YMCA requires 2 people and is open every day 10am – 5pm.

As previously mentioned all cooks are required to have the Basic Food Hygiene Certificate and where necessary update training has been provided.

Other Resources

The following resources are required for a successful community café:

Type of Venue:

a) Easily accessible, well located, heated large room

Facilities:

a) Kitchen facilities (these can be added at a cost)
b) The room needs to be welcoming with suitable, comfortable table and chairs
c) Toilets

Equipment:

a) Heavy duty cooker
b) Urn
c) Storage facilities

Training:

a) Basic Food Hygiene Certificate for chefs

Luxury Resources:

a) Coffee Machine
b) Soup Cauldron for home made soups
c) Catering sized stick wand for making soups
d) Griddle machine
e) Large catering pans
f) Training for chefs or access to trained staff in marketing, finance, advertising, VAT, people skills

Sustainability

The project began in 2002 and Angela sees no reason for the project to end as long as it is forms part of a larger framework with food policy guided by the Food Policy Advisory Board.

Evaluation

Unfortunately there has yet to be any formal evaluation process, except for the NOF annual reports submitted each year by Angela and the individual community cafes. However Angela and the rest of the team are very proud of what they have achieved so far, and she is confident that the cooks understand the importance of healthy eating. The creation of the network has allowed for the chefs to work together and feel part of a team and they the use monthly meetings to learn from each other.

Lessons Learned

Carry out detailed assessments of the area before suggesting a community café.
Check out the local competition – is there already a café, greengrocer, family pub? Could they be supported and provide healthy eating alternatives?
Link private cafes into Healthy Community Café Network.
The monthly workshops have been essential to the success of the project.
Link the cafés into a healthy catering award scheme.
Question as to whether a community café is really necessary over other areas of work – although very worthwhile, it is an expensive and time-consuming project.
The use of the community café has provided an important and powerful route into the community. It also provides common ground for local discussions about food and what needs to change at an individual, community and structural level to enable people to make healthier food choices.

Future Plans

The monthly meetings will continue and feedback from this will be passed onto the Food Policy Advisory Board.
Evaluation processes will be put into place.
The success of the project so far needs to be promoted to local and regional government.

Visits were made to three of the community network cafes’ with Angela and Bob Charnley from Trading Standards.

Smart Byte Café

This is located in St James church hall on the Lion Farm Estate in Oldbury and is staffed by one cook, Julie, who previously had been working in school catering. We met Julie as she was saying goodbye to two of her regular customers.

The elderly couple visit the café daily for a hot meal, which is prepared by Julie who always has healthy eating in mind. Items on the menu for that day included "Mariners Pie with fresh vegetables" and "Wholesome Chicken Casserole" each only costing £2.00. For our lunch she prepared "Chicken Fajitas" using the recipe from the booklet supplied by Sandwell Trading Standards. The meal was lovely and made using vegetables from the greengrocer next door. Julie estimated the ingredients cost only 50p and she found it very easy to make. As well as using the recipe book and promoting it to her customers Julie has also found other ways of encouraging the local communities to eat healthier meals. The attached document provides information on one of the workshops set up by the Healthy Community Café Network, which was held at the café with the theme "Funky Fish".

The café is hoping to have several computers installed for internet access for the local communities and also looking to encourage youngsters to use it as a after school or homework club.

Oak Green Café

This café has recently opened in a brand new building in Oak Green Lodge in Oldbury. The kitchen and furniture were paid for by money from fund-raising events held by the local community who now visit their café regularly. The café is warm and welcoming and the staff very helpful. It is run by Jeni who was very enthusiastic about healthy eating and cooking and was proud to show off her chutneys that she had made for the café from tomatoes provided by a local allotment that provides the café with fresh fruit and vegetables. The attached document details one of the "Grow, cook, and eat workshops" held by the Café Network on the theme "Irresistible Italian". This workshop promoted the recipe booklet provided by Sandwell Trading Standards and the press articles attached show how popular this event was.

YMCA Café

This café is actually within the YMCA Healthy Living Centre, which also has a gymnasium and temporary accommodation for youngsters. The café attracts many visitors, some of which are already very health conscious having visited the gym next door whilst others are learning about healthier diets from the meals being provided and the brightly coloured posters on the walls. The café is open Mondays to Saturdays and is also the start off point for healthy walks in the area.

For further information about the cafes please contact Angela Blair.
For Further information on other Food Policy work in Sandwell see
http://www.rrt-pct.org.uk/healthy_living/food-policy.htm

Name: Angela Blair
Job Title: Community Food Development Worker
Organisation: Joint Policy Unit (Primary Care Trust/Local Authority)
Address: Kingston House 438 High Street West Bromwich B70 9LD
Phone no: 0121 5001450
Email: angela.blair@rrt-pct.nhs.uk

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