Big ideas to change the world…

May 16, 2022 13 minutes

KYLE ACADEMY, SOUTH AYRSHIRE

Caring Cafe

In 2018 a small group of S2 girls began a Young Entrepreneurs course organised through South Ayrshire Council.

After training, they put together a viable business plan and decided that rather than just making something and selling it, they wanted to provide a useful service to the school and community.

The idea of a ‘Caring Cafe’ was born – a cafe where anyone would find a warm welcome, a cuppa and a friendly face to chat to.

They also wanted to show we cared for the producers and farmers in the developing world, by using Fairtrade tea, coffee, hot chocolate and sugar.

But these days, we are not just about trade justice. We are about climate justice too.

We want people to understand how small changes like turning off electrics, charging less and using dark mode can help reduce their carbon footprint.

We want them to stop wasting energy. And the message is getting through. “I liked going to the Caring Cafe because it had a different approach to raising awareness of important issues,” says the school’s head boy Phillip McPherson.

During lockdown, the Caring Cafe, like most businesses in hospitality, remained closed.

“I liked going to the Caring Cafe because it had a different approach to raising awareness of important issues”

Head teacher Mary Byrne says: “With the impact on their Caring Cafe, pupils experienced first-hand the disruption and challenges of real-life hospitality businesses.”

The original girls are now in S6 and studying for Highers and getting part-time jobs in cafes and coffee shops, having completed barista training at the school’s skills academy.

We have inherited their sustainable business idea and we are determined to recreate their successes. But this time our message is greener.

We went from strength to strength and from 2019 to 2020 we held 10 caring cafes, each one with a special theme.

We have the reusable and eco-sourced equipment we need, so we can put our profits into environmental projects around the school.

Projects that will improve the school’s biodiversity – a green classroom outdoors and continuing to grow fruit and veg to serve up in our cafe, as well as a wildflower meadow, are all on our to-do list.