News: Ministry of Food Rotherham set to become a social enterprise

The Ministry of Food in Rotherham town centre is set to relaunch as a social enterprise.

Celebrity chef and healthy-eating campaigner, Jamie Oliver expressed fears last month that the Ministry of Food could be a victim of funding cuts.

The centre, in All Saints' Square, opened in 2008 as part of Oliver's TV series and remained open with the help of £130,000 a year from Rotherham Council.

In a report to the meeting of deputy leader of Rotherham Council, Matt Gladstone, the council's assistant chief executive, detailed how efforts are underway to sustain the project beyond the current financial year due to its high profile, success and the ongoing demand for its services.

Last year, the centre taught 6,500 people how to cook using fresh ingredients. These included everyone from firemen to teachers, care-home workers to school kids - when the centre put up a poster in the window advertising summer holiday classes for kids, the places were filled within 24 hours. Classes are consistently booked out for months in advance.

With the support of a Social Enterprise Advisor based at Voluntary Action Rotherham, a draft business plan has been developed.

The plan includes a new café concept, which will see the centre offering a cookery demonstration each week-day lunch time and selling take-away portions of the meal of the day along with a recipe card.

Income would come from lessons, outreach work and café sales, and a range of other potential income streams are currently being investigated. These include a concept being developed to sell sponsorship packages to local businesses, which include tailored cookery courses for the businesses workforce.

Steps are now being taken to establish the Ministry of Food as a social enterprise in the form of a company limited by guarantee. This will involve establishing a board of directors, including membership from Rotherham Council, NHS Rotherham and Rotherham College of Arts and Technology. Social enterprise status will also open up opportunities to bid for grant funding not available to the project in its current guise.



The unit has already undergone a transformation with a new shop front, signage and seating area. From Monday October 18, the Ministry will be selling take-away coffee, tea and healthy home-made muffins as well as home-made soups and freshly baked bread rolls.

At lunchtimes, the Ministry will offer a set menu which, for the opening week, features chilli and rice, Moroccan lamb and cous cous, pasta, curry and fajitas.

Produce used in the Ministry of Food's Meal of the Day will be sourced from around the local area with food from places such as Andrews Butchers, Pickles Farm, Eastwood Fisheries and KD Davis Fruit and veg. All these places are within walking distance of the Ministry of Food's premises.

Lisa Taylor, who manages the Ministry of Food centre in Rotherham, said the centre does not view itself as in competition with other town centre businesses.

"Our priorities continue to be helping Rotherham people to improve their eating habits, and to learn more about cooking healthy food.

"The work of the centre is already bringing a huge range of other economic benefits - not least to the local suppliers from whom we source our vegetables, fish, meat and dairy products.

"Securing accreditation as a social enterprise will reflect the hard work of the Ministry team here in Rotherham in enabling the centre to stand on its own two feet. It will also enable us to access new funding streams so that we can continue to achieve our main purpose, which is creating a passion for cooking healthy food here in Rotherham."

Rotherham Ministry of Food website

Images: mofrotherham.co.uk