Community cafes are an essential hub for all kinds of people.
Whether it’s providing work for those who have been struggling, mums having a safe place to enjoy with their babies or elderly people relishing a coffee and a chat, the benefits of these local venues are far-reaching.
Rosie’s Social Enterprises were a pillar in Aberdeen’s Rosemount community for more than two decades with their cafe before closing in 2020.
Now, with their new cafe housed inside the modern Tillydrone Community Campus building, the organisation is delighted to be serving north-east communities once again.
Comfort food like freshly made soups and sandwiches will be the cafe’s main sellers, sourcing much of its food and drink from local suppliers.
Last Friday was its official opening day. Packed with people and smiles all round, it gave a wholly positive impression of just how important the venue is set to be for local people.
We talked to Rosie’s Social Enterprises service manager Alison Paterson (in between her busy opening day schedule) to find out more about the organisation’s new cafe…
Tell us a little about your working background and some of the things you do with Rosie’s Social Enterprises
I work with the charity Turning Point Scotland and Rosie’s Social Enterprises are their only social enterprise.
With Rosie’s we have worked with people in Aberdeen in recovery from mental health and acquired brain injuries for more than 20 years.
We have projects on Holburn Street such as crafts, framing, graphics and upcycling workshops. We did have a cafe in Rosemount, but we gave this up in May 2020 as it was no longer fit for purpose.
I first started as a retail co-ordinator with Rosie’s because of my previous working background in retail, then things just progressed from there.
I ran the former cafe in Rosemount for years and helped out in Holburn Street – I’ve done a bit of everything, really. But I do like working with our service users.
Seeing people come in at first and feeling anxious, then seeing them come out the other end in a better place than where they started, that’s what’s special about it all for me.
When did the opportunity for the new cafe arise?
It’s taken around four or five months in total to get everything in place. We were approached by Tillydrone Management Committee and Aberdeen City Council to bring this about.
The committee had run the cafe themselves until it closed due to Covid. So, they put it out as an opportunity for a social enterprise to come in, which I think would have only been ourselves and The Bread Maker in Aberdeen that would fit the bill.
I’ve been amazed by the level of support we’ve had from the committee and the council to help get things in place with the cafe. They’ve been so good.
What makes this new venue stand out?
When the opportunity for this came up, we knew it would cover the things that we really wanted to be doing.
It’s a real community cafe; we want to be involved with everyone in the community, as well as other vulnerable people.
It’s just wonderful, it’s an absolutely amazing building and we have everything here that the community could need.
How does it feel to be here on opening day?
This is a special day for me and the whole of the Rosie’s team.
I might be the service manager, but I helped out making the soups today and I’ll most likely be back doing the dishes later on!
There’s no status in the roles, we all pitch in. Being able to come together for things like this is really important.
What food and drink can people expect at the cafe?
We’ve got two soups every day, one meat and one veg, and everything will be made from scratch. We’ll also have plenty of scones, sweet treats, home bakes and all these kinds of things.
There are also breakfasts and we’re making sure to adapt our menu so that everyone who is coming in is seeing the things that they’d like to have.
The cafe will be open Monday to Friday from 9am to 3.30pm.
Will you source ingredients from local suppliers?
We use McWilliam butcher for our meats and did use local bakers when we had our previous cafe in Rosemount.
At the moment, we’ll just be finding our feet in terms of getting the cafe up and running and then looking to work with more local suppliers for our food.
We do also have Caber Coffee for our hot drinks at the moment.
How will the community cafe align with the overall ethos of Rosie’s Social Enterprises?
We will have service users working here. A few of those who worked at our previous cafe were keen to come back to work with us here too.
But there will certainly be a big focus on the local community.
We’ve already been approached by The Lighthouse Support Centre here in Tillydrone, who have asked us to work on preparing Christmas meals for their support groups which is great.
Before in Rosemount, it was the community there that supported us. So, we want to be open to all kinds of people here.
What do the next steps for the cafe and Rosie’s Social Enterprises look like?
We’re taking things one step at a time for the moment. If another opportunity to work with the city council and a local community centre presented itself in the future, I wouldn’t say no.
In the future, I would like to be able to have groups for people with learning disabilities or other conditions to come along and meet together.
Our previous cafe didn’t have disability-access toilets or things like that at all, so I’d love to do things like this here once we’re established.
But right now, the place is lovely and there is a real nice community feeling here. I’m hoping that it will work out well.
Visit www.rosiesenterprises.com for more information on the spectrum of work that Rosie’s Social Enterprises carries out.
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