Social benefits

London is home to a thriving community of social enterprises that are increasingly involved in delivering public services. Ian Mitchell reports

---

So what's the big difference between buying your lunch at any old restaurant and buying it at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen? Apart from any questions of taste, one difference is that, while your local restaurant is likely to be a wholly private enterprise, Fifteen has specifically been set up as a social enterprise - and that is a big difference.

As a social enterprise, all profits from the Fifteen restaurant are fed directly into the Fifteen Foundation, a charitable organisation that exists to inspire disadvantaged young people - including homeless and unemployed young people and those overcoming drug or alcohol abuse - that they can have a rewarding career in the restaurant industry.

Thanks to the involvement of a celebrity chef, the Fifteen restaurant is fairly well known, but it is far from the only social enterprise of its kind. In fact there are an estimated 55,000 social enterprises across the UK today, providing goods and services on a commercial basis while supporting specific social and/or environmental goals.

View all pages

---

Page: 1  View page 2 | View page 3 | View page 4 | View page 5 | View page 6 | View page 7 | View page 8 |