Meet the trader... Breadwinners
Introducing… Breadwinners, a regular trader at the weekly Food and Farmers market.
Breadwinners is a grassroots not-for-profit social enterprise and charity providing Londoners with the best artisan organic fresh bread and pastries, and supporting refugees to have a fresh start through our employment and work experience programmes.
They use their market stalls and wholesale models to give jobs to refugees. Through them, they create a community of customers, corporates, and producers, forming the perfect environment for integrating newly arrived people into the UK, with significant disadvantages when looking for work. At the same time, the social enterprise can demonstrate that Refugees are skilled, hardworking, and very positive, changing any negative perception of current media and inspiring other organisations to give them work opportunities. Visit them on Sundays at the Beckenham Place Park food and farmers market to enjoy the best real sourdoughs, natural levains and delicious organic pastries!
What can BPP visitors find in your stall?
We sell a wide variety of artisan and organic baked goods, pastries, sourdoughs, levains, rye bread, even charcoal bread!
If you had to choose one word that describes your business, what would it be?
Impactful. We recently won the SE100 for the most Impactful Social Enterprise in the UK!
What is your most popular product?
Our Vermont Sourdough! It captures the irresistible combination of white bread with added rye - bringing with it fibre, extra moisture in the dough and strength to the taste.
The art of making a great sourdough loaf begins with three simple ingredients: flour, water, and salt. That's it! We give our dough all the time it needs to ferment and develop, carefully controlling the fermentation process to ensure a well-balanced flavour. Real bread can't be rushed.
Tell us about a product that may be less understood.
The German 100% Rye Sourdough. This bread is a lot denser than others, which makes it great for sandwiches. It has a very low gluten content of Gluten, so is great for people who have a low intolerance to gluten. Whether you want to enjoy it with jam or honey or go for something hearty – I recommend cheese or salami – it tastes fantastic with either.
How do you make your business eco-friendly?
We use organic ingredients. We serve in paper bags. We are very careful to match demand, and minimise waste, which is donated or goes to animal feed if there is any left overs.
Can you share a fact about you the maker, or your stall/company that most people don’t know about?
We actually support refugees to have their first-ever job at our stalls, and 96% progress into other jobs!
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
You can join our community and volunteer as a mentor to a young refugee, help us on our community events, fundraisers and programmes!
WHERE TO FIND THE BUSINESS
You can find Breadwinners in the park, in front of the Mansion, on Sundays www.breadwinners.org.uk
Instagram: @wearebreadwinners
Facebook:@wearebreadwinners
Twitter: @webreadwinners
LinkedIn: breadwinners