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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

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Social Bite sees tenfold increase in corporate profits

This news post is over 7 years old
 

The cafe said corporate orders are now its biggest revenue generator.

A social enterprise cafe that donates its profits to homeless causes has seen a tenfold increase in its corporate catering business.

Social Bite has seen monthly takings from corporate orders grow from £7000 to £70,000.

The business, which has outlets in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, says corporate orders are now its biggest revenue generator, accounting for half of all takings.

Alan Mahon, Social Bite director, said: “The exponential increase we have seen in corporate catering is incredibly encouraging for us as a social enterprise.

The more profit we make, the more we can contribute to the heart of our cause, which is to donate 100% of our profits to homeless initiatives in the community

“The more profit we make, the more we can contribute to the heart of our cause, which is to donate 100% of our profits to homeless initiatives in the community.”

Mahon said a new ordering system called Spoonfed had helped Social Bite deal with the increase in trade.

“Since adopting Spoonfed’s software, our corporate image has vastly improved and we have seen continued customer satisfaction and confidence in our offerings, which has been brilliant,” he added.

Willie Biggart, Spoonfed’s managing director, said: “Social Bite does brilliant work within the homeless community and we wanted to ensure that they could continue to do this with the help of Spoonfed.

“As a result, we incorporated the option to ‘suspend’ items like coffee or sandwiches, meaning companies placing corporate orders could reserve items to give back to the homeless community, all with just a couple of clicks.”

Social Bite made headlines in 2015 when its Edinburgh branch was visited by George Clooney. The cafe hopes to follow that up with an appearance from Leonardo DiCaprio later this year.