London's Big Issue sellers are to diversify into selling coffee from today.
The company is going to sell coffee to Londoners under the name Change Please, a new brand backed by the Big Issue magazine.
They have eight carts spread across central London with sites in Covent Garden, Waterloo and Paddington.
The not-for-profit company will pay baristas the London living wage of £9.15 an hour and train them for jobs with firms from the food and beverage, legal and banking sectors while also providing temporary accommodation.
Co-founder Cemal Ezel, a former City trader, described the venture as a “win-win” situation by providing ethically sourced coffee while tackling the problems caused by homelessness.
He said: “We promise one of the best cups of coffee you’ll find, but even better, we guarantee that this programme will make a significant contribution to helping alleviate the homeless problem across the country.
“If we can get a small proportion of coffee drinkers to simply change where they buy their coffee, we really could change the world. By providing both a job and housing we are immediately lifting people out of homelessness.”
Mr Ezel and his co-founder Peter Bird, of The Big Issue, said a record 280,000 people approached their local authority for help with homelessness.
To begin with, about six staff brew up cups of coffee from the back of the grey three-wheeled vans but the workforce is expected to double in the first month.
For information on Change Please visit their website
