Hollybrook Academy – Community Cafe

School: Hollybrook Academy

Type of Activity: Community Cafe

Name of Employer: Neighbourly

Industry Sector: Hospitality/Business

Target Audience: S4/S5/S6

Partners/Stakeholders: Neighbourly, Aldi, Sainsbury’s and Lidl

Case Study
A small group of S4 to S6 pupils participated in a group called ‘Taste Buddies’. This ongoing project runs throughout the academic year on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Thursday of each month, excluding school holidays. It is organised and led by the school’s Home Economics teacher, Mrs Howie. She created the ‘Taste Buddies’ group and reached out to Neighbourly.

Through Neighbourly, Mrs Howie created a page for the school which provides a platform that helps businesses make a positive impact in their communities by donating volunteer time, money, and surplus products to local worthy causes. They match the resources which are available to the school, e.g. Sainsbury’s.

The students independently pick up the ingredients they need from the supermarket, accompanied by the Home Economics teacher in the school minibus. They bring everything back to the school, where they prepare the dishes they have planned for their menu. Once the dishes are cooked and packaged, the students deliver them to the local community centre. There, they set up the hall, take customers’ orders, serve food and drinks, and handle the cleanup afterward. A typical menu created by the pupils features two soup options and two cake options. For example, during this particular week, the menu featured chicken soup with mint, creamy parsnip soup with honey and whole grain mustard, orange drizzle cake, and banana bread with chocolate ganache.

Results/Outcome

• Practical hospitality skills
• Memory skills
• Communication skills
• Opportunity to work within their community
• Opportunity to work with the general public
• Customer service skills
• Ability to network
• National 2 and National 3 Business and Home Economics qualification

Benefits

• Getting out into the local community and socialising with new people
• Feelings of pride, empowerment, and confidence
• Increasing social interaction and developing verbal communication skills
• Gaining important transferrable skills
• Gaining SQA Qualifications

Testimonials

“Absolutely proud of all the pupils volunteering to cook and serve the food in Larkfield Centre. Food was amazing!’’ (Gillian V, Community member/customer)

“Well done to Mrs Howie and the staff helping and to the pupils who were fantastic at making the food and serving it to customers.’’ (Angela M, Community Centre worker)