Month: October 2018

For the past two years, Well Grounded has been busy connecting people: inspiring and upskilling individuals and generating work-related opportunities in its mission to provide a ‘talent pipeline’ for the coffee sector.

At the heart of this organisation is its founder Eve Wagg, who with her love of coffee embarked on a journey that is focused on changing lives for the better, by providing skills and openings for individuals whose talent hasn’t yet had the chance to sparkle.

Now she is planning to extend this ‘talent pipeline’ outside of Well Grounded’s current East London home in Tower Hamlets, firstly to London’s Kings Cross in the spring and then onto other major towns and cities across the UK. Areas where social deprivation, high unemployment and scant opportunities keep many gifted people hidden below the surface.

These are people who, as Wagg and the Well Grounded team are able to demonstrate, when given the right environment, support, training and opportunities, will blossom.

With 40,000 Barista jobs forecast to be vacant by 2023 and 1.4m unemployed people in the UK, Wagg’s ambition is to grow academies in locations where speciality coffee operators are opening and tap into the employment opportunities for the local communities. 

“I always had this idea about how coffee could connect with people who were experiencing some sort of disadvantage,” said Wagg, who gave up a career in the voluntary sector to test her idea in a pilot scheme with Ozone Coffee in 2015.

From the seeds of that first pilot, today’s fully-grown training programme focuses on five skill sets, served up to individuals on a nine-week course where technical and work skills are complemented by life-skills to enable employability and success.

“We’ve developed a curriculum based upon educational methodology, growth mindset and technical skills, along with work readiness and support. It links to the key strengths of resilience, self-awareness, confidence, teamwork collaboration and technical skills,” explains Wagg.

“It’s about allowing people to develop other strengths through learning about coffee. Research shows that it’s important to contextualise wider skills in order for them to be embedded, so we don’t just talk to people about feeling confident, but show them what it looks like when working in a busy café.”

Well Grounded’s HQ and training centre is based within the Spotlight Youth Academy centre at Poplar HARCA, an award-winning Social Housing Association in Langdon Park in London’s E14 postal area. Langdon Park is in ‘Lansbury Ward’, which falls within the top 20% of the most deprived areas of the country. It also has the highest unemployment rates in Tower Hamlets, with 20% of residents being long-term unemployed or whom have never worked.

With its training and network of more than 50 coffee companies, including Ozone, Notes, Harris + Hoole, PRESS and the big brands, such as Caffe Nero, Well Grounded is ever on the look-out for new partners and opportunities.

“First and foremost we look to develop talent for the industry. We work with a diverse group of people aged between 16 and 60, refugees, victims of modern slavery, people with mental health issues, young people who have never been employed or older people out of work and looking for a new career. There’s a huge demand for talent in this industry, which needs experienced baristas, and we find the people who have that talent.

“We’re creating coffee professionals.”

Take Sis, one trainee on the current nine-week course who retired after a 25-year career in housing management, only to find herself, aged 55, unemployable elsewhere. She’s learning about coffee with plans to open her own bespoke coffee house in Deptford where the coffee will be imported from local producers and farmers in the Caribbean. Or Stephen, who is seeking a more sensory experience and gaining skills to find work in a roastery. 

With 10 people applying for every place, there’s a huge demand for Well Grounded’s three courses. The one-day course is a taster session for anyone looking at a new career in coffee; who might just need some speciality coffee association tech skills connections and support with their CVS, and the flagship nine week course, which combines SCA tech skills with soft ‘work’ skills, plus a four-week placement at the end.

It costs £1,500 to transition someone from unemployed through training, mentorship, employment support and into sustained work, explains Wagg. With every one of the Well Grounded graduates provided with ongoing support, refresher training, social events, mentoring and more.

Funding is obtained through a variety of grants, which represent 40% of its income, with the rest coming through delivering private training and recruitment services to coffee companies.

To find the right individuals, Well Grounded spends a lot of time engaging with communities and getting them to try coffee, like the young football fan who Wagg met at event hosted by the Arsenal Foundation, an initiative by the football club to support youngsters who have fallen out of education.

“This one lad had never tried coffee before, but when he tasted it, you could see he saw something in it. Coffee has transformed him. He’s now a full-time barrister working in Clerkenwell,” she says.

Then there’s the refugee from Yemen, who went to work for Notes after completing her nine-week training course. What followed was a summer internment with the Rwanda Farmers Coffee Co and a Masters in Coffee Economics in Trieste, Italy, sponsored by Illy. She is now working for Falcon Coffee in quality control and speaks at United Nation’s conferences on post-conflict resolution in agriculture and supporting women in the coffee industry!

“Everyone needs a foot in the door. We pick people up and help unlock their potential. They can finish up working in a roastery, wholesale, marketing or running their own coffee cart. People end up in the right work solution for them,” says Wagg, who is keen to point out that none of it could have happened without the amazing support she and her team of five at Well Grounded have received from individuals and companies within the industry.

“We have an incredible board and advisory team and a community of great people from employers to industry people –  La Marzocco, Ozone, Notes, Soho House, British Airways, UBS and Lloyds too.”

And in just two years’ Well Grounded has given 161 people access to training, got more 82 people into work, education or further training, 103 have gained SCA-accredited training with 50 employers hiring its graduates.

Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow and Bristol are all on Well Grounded’s hit-list. “Bristol isn’t probably an area people think of as having high levels of unemployment or disadvantage, but every community in the UK does. Our value is that we unlock the potential of people and connect communities, so in areas where there’s a growth of speciality coffee, we can make sure that the communities living there are accessing their jobs and are visiting them and enjoying their service.”

Well Grounded is planning to establish five academies within the next five years, with each academy working with 100 individuals annually, creating opportunities for 500 people a year.

This article was commissioned and published by Beverage Business World (Quinic Events).

https://beveragebusinessworld.com/latest-news/big-interview-well-grounded-16-10-2018/

Large hotels aren’t often celebrated for their coffee offer, but Tony Mosca, InterContinental London Park Lane’s director of food and beverage, has set out to create a unique and altogether special experience for coffee lovers.

High Coffee, an alternative to the hotel’s well-established Royal Afternoon Tea, is a sensory event that takes guests on a culinary journey with each course paired with a coffee experience, courtesy of Mosca, executive chef Ashley Wells, executive sous chef Stirling Webb and Eva Inzani of coffee partner, L’Unico Caffe Musetti.

“The idea was to deliver a coffee experience to guests that celebrated the different ways of serving coffee,” explains Mosca, a self-proclaimed coffee lover who grew up in Melbourne, Australia amid his coffee-centric family, whose percolator was always brewing and kitchen packed full of coffee-related gadgets.

“Our High Coffee experience is a first within the London hotel market and is about creating theatre; giving our guests a unique coffee experience.”

Mosca first mooted the idea of High Coffee while working in Sydney, where he was food and beverage director for InterContinental (2009-2012). 

“Afternoon tea was at a peak, so we wanted to develop a new market and while afternoon tea was seen as more of a feminine experience, we understood that coffee would have a broader appeal,” says Mosca.

Working with award-winning Australian/Italian chef, Stefano Manfredi, Mosca helped develop a food and coffee pairing menu. It was hugely successful and led InterContinental to expand the High Coffee concept into its hotels in Melbourne and Adelaide.

When Mosca arrived in London last year, he again recognised a ‘saturated afternoon tea’ market and set out to recreate a coffee experience to capture a whole new market here.

“We wanted to bring something unique to London’s coffee scene,” he continues.

“London’s coffee market is growing; there are more coffee houses than ever before, even Harrods has a roasting area. There is amazing coffee to be enjoyed and people will go out of their way to get a great cup.” 

Adding: “And people are increasingly prepared to pay more for a great cup of coffee, while not being prepared to put up with sub-standard products.”

Mosca continues: “Our High Coffee is an experience for coffee lovers and makes a perfect gift, or can be enjoyed by friends and groups of people. We’re seeing big groups of friends taking over a corner of our Wellington Lounge to hold a baby shower or other celebration. It’s a unique experience and being coffee, it leaves people feeling energised afterwards.”

The hotel, which serves over 100,000 cups of coffee a year, offers four different blends with the majority of it being a 85% Arabica/15% robusta blend from Musetti, which also supplies the coffee equipment and staff training.

There’s a barista station, with a Gaggia machine, situated in the Wellington Lounge for the staff who have gone through “extensive training” to provide them with a wide spectrum of knowledge; from how coffee is grown, the regions, the coffee to milk ratio, how to keep the machines clean and so on. 

“We want our staff to be confident and be able to explain our High Coffee experience; why the foods are paired with the particular style of coffee. For instance, we have smoked eel (served with red onion, caper aioli on a beetroot brioche roll) among the open sandwiches on the first course, which compliments the 100% Arabica 1934 blend used in the Espresso Martini,” says Mosca.

“People are surprised how well it works, with the oil in the eel going beautifully with the coffee. It creates a ‘wow’ reaction, with people saying they are surprised by the pairing and how well the flavours work together.”

From the open sandwiches, warm savouries to the desserts, which are paired with a Caffe du Paradiso – an 85% Arabica/15% robusta, with a dark cocoa, nuttiness, peachy, caramel, blackcurrant and butterscotch notes – every element of the menu, the dishes and the presentation is designed to impress. 

The finale is a Gold Cuvee, a special blend exclusively produced by Musetti for the hotel using beans from seven countries, explains the manager of the Arch Bar and Wellington Lounge Manuel De Juan (pictured right), whose passion for High Coffee is evident in his elegant narration of the each course and coffee pairing.

Mosca continues: “All the feedback has been very positive, although some say there is, perhaps, too much food! Guests enjoy the interaction with the staff. They’re not just there to drink a pot of tea, but take part in an experience – one which begins with an Espresso Martini!”

The development of High Coffee isn’t to end here, with plans afoot to review the menu early next year as Mosca believes the experience must continue to evolve.

Elsewhere in the hotel, Mosca is looking to reinvigorate the coffee experience. He’s currently in discussion with a Cold Brew company to supply product for the rooms’ mini-bars.

Events are another big area for the hotel, with up to 1,000 delegates using the conference facilities at any one time.

“We want to develop the hotel’s regular cup of coffee by bringing in different varieties of beans to make the coffee offer even better. It’s about giving more attention to coffee culture within the hotel.”

Looking how to deliver a better coffee experience to a larger audience is something he’s actively investigating – to provide delegates with a choice of cappuccinos or lattes, alongside the filter coffee.

“Often the problem comes with how the coffee is served. People see large coffee pots or urns and think it won’t be great quality. I’d like to find different ways to serve coffee to create theatre and interest. For instance, in New York we used syphons to create a sense of fun.”

From High Coffee to expanding the hotel’s coffee culture, Mosca is intent on delivering an altogether more spectacular and unique coffee offer than is available at any other big London hotel – perhaps driven by a long-held dream to one day open a speciality coffee shop of his own back home in Melbourne.

This article was commissioned and published by Beverage Business World (Quinic Events).

https://beveragebusinessworld.com/latest-news/big-interview-intercontinental-london-park-lane-02-10-2018/