At the beginning of the year, we received an extremely generous donation from ARM. With this donation we were able to fund a much-needed marque extension on the side of Joan’s Coffee Shop. Thanks to the ARM donation we have gained almost 40 additional seats for our customers to sit and eat, whilst feeling much safer with more room for social distancing.
The marquee allowed Joan’s Coffee Shop to reopen and provide outdoor table service and takeaways to customers after the lockdown lifted in March. Without the marquee, our coffee shop would have been unable to provide outdoor table service and would only be able to offer takeaway. Being able to provide outdoor table service during the last few months has meant our customers are able to sit, relax and enjoy their day in our community and a freshly made meal, something our takeaway service sadly wouldn’t have offered. As we enter summer and restrictions lift further, the marquee will offer a spacious, sheltered, outdoor space for our customer to enjoy.
Wendy our Catering Manager explained, “The marquee is a light, bright, airy space, it looks amazing with a quirkiness which matches the unique look of our whole community. We have dressed it in bright cheerful colours with unusual bric a brac dotted about to make this a standalone place to come for lunch or meet friends for a catch-up.”
Wendy and her catering team have worked very hard to make the marquee look beautiful for customers visits!
Joan’s Coffee Shop allows us to become a ‘Destination’; somewhere, where our customers can spend an afternoon searching for a treasure and then enjoy coffee and cake, or a lovely home cooked meal, whilst being served by those they are directly supporting.
Some supporters may know that the coffee shop is named after one of our Companions, whom originally started out with just a kettle and a jar of instant coffee. From humble beginnings, our coffee shop has now became a pivotal part of our social enterprise. The Coffee shop is just one aspect of our social enterprise that our Companions volunteer in. The companions who work in the coffee shop receive robust training in fields such as Food Hygiene, Customer Service and Barista Skills to help them prepare for a life outside Emmaus, should they choose to move on. ARM’s donation has allowed Joan’s Coffee Shop to continue to grow and serve more and more of our wonderful customers – Thank you ARM!