Using baking and coffee to empower women for the future

The Wren Bakery is a Social Enterprise that uses baking and coffee as tools to give women who experience disadvantage opportunities towards employment. They received an Ideas that Change Lives grant to help them take on their very own café…

 

Can you tell us a bit about The Wren Bakery?

The Wren Bakery works with women in Leeds who live in cycles of oppression and disadvantage. Women who daily struggle with addictions, substance misuse, criminal records and poor mental health and need to build their skills, self belief and confidence to be able to move into economic stability. The Wren Bakery exists to reach these women. We aim to empower and equip them to hope for a different future, and give them the tools to obtain it.

We work with our trainees for two years and our training is split into two phases. In the first phase of training we meet our trainees once a week for 6 months in our cafe at Mabgate Mills. In this time our training focuses on three specific areas, baking, barista and well being.  We build a portfolio of skills in these 6 months and give the trainees work experience in our cafe. Online learning is given to achieve certificates in Food Hygiene Level 2 and Allergy Awareness. We place employability skills right alongside our training to build confidence and a strong sense of achievement.

After graduating from phase one, we deliver 18 months of one to one mentoring to transfer these skills into realistic work settings.

 

What did your Ideas that Change Lives grant enable you to do?

In October 2022 we applied for an Ideas That Change Lives Grant so that we could develop our charity into its own cafe and training base. The money given to us, alongside other grants, enabled us to make this step.

Previously The Wren Bakery had been renting space in the cafe, from the previous owners Jean and Mark Armstrong @Shiloh Coffee Roasters, to deliver our training. Weekly we rented the kitchen space for our baking sessions and their coffee machine counter to deliver our barista training.  We operated a vintage coffee van which we took out every Saturday, giving our trainees valuable work experience.

Selling the van and taking on the lease of our very own cafe has been a very exciting development for us. The cafe is the perfect size and location, with a separate office space, enabling us to deliver all of our training under one roof. Our trainees now have the opportunity of work experience during phase one of their training in the cafe with shifts tailored to their needs, progressing their learning more quickly. We now have the capacity to offer volunteering and work opportunities to trainees and can expand into outside catering, fundraising events, cafe hire etc helping us become more sustainable as a charity.

 

Can you tell us about the impact of what you do on the people you work with?

We measure the impact that we have in a variety of ways at the Wren Bakery. It is thrilling when we see women move into paid or voluntary work and we have celebrated that both within and outside of the hospitality sector. Softer outcomes play a huge part too, we see growth in our trainees’ self belief, confidence and an increased hope for their future which are vital steps forward on their journey back into employment. Here’s what some of them have said:

“I went through a domestic violence relationship for years. I’d completely lost myself.  I became reserved and really down on myself.  I was on probation but I wanted to better myself. I wanted to get away from my past. When I was going through depression, I didn’t leave my house.  I didn’t feel safe and I lacked routine and structure in my life. Now I look forward to days when I get to go to The Wren Bakery. I’ve found a love for baking again something I used to have when I was younger. The baking part is fantastic but the support they provide is amazing. I’ve got a lot to thank them for. It’s made me open up a lot more and try new things and I’m doing a counsellor course in my spare time. The things I’ve been through will mean I can help someone else.”

“I feel it’s given me the confidence to get through things I didn’t think I could before. I’ve been written off for years by people, and now I feel I have a good future ahead of me.” 

“I never thought I’d be in paid work again, I can’t put into words how happy I am.”

 

What are some of the biggest challenges you face as an organisation?

In this first year of having our own cafe, we face the challenge of developing a sustainable business in order to fulfil the charity’s objectives. Inflationary pressures mean that trading operations continue to need support through grants and donations.

 

How is your organisation preparing for the future, and what kind of funding is needed?

We are looking at strategies to increase our donor base of regular givers whilst also exploring new avenues of grant funding and corporate support.