Hopes for Christmas
The lockdown hasn’t put us in dormancy. Some of us have been continuing a separate project Solidarity Kitchen, cooking every Thursday more than 150 meals for those in need. This has been possible thanks to the hard work all the participants in the project voluntarily offered and keep on doing so.
We now know that the nationwide lockdown will be lifted on 2nd December, however, we’re still waiting for the announcement from the government on what kind of restrictions Brum will be put under. We hope it is not going to be tier 3 as this would mean the cafe had to stay closed.
These are very difficult times for all of us. It is hard to plan anything in such uncertain circumstances, not to mention having to close and reopen the cafe several times in one year. And yet, here we are, full of hope and optimism, promising you we have our Christmas menu almost finalised and The Warehouse Cafe crew and space ready to have you in again!
We miss you and miss our cafe being filled with your lovely voices, positive vibes and a festive atmosphere.
Stay safe and tuned!
Hello to all of our lovely customers,
As you all know, we’ve been greatly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and with great sadness have had to shut our doors and close our events space since mid-March. We don’t regret it though – we were one of the first cafes in Brum to shut our shop with the well-being of our staff and customers as our biggest priority, a clear contrast to the catastrophic efforts by the Tory government to do much to prevent loss. So, we took action into our own hands and helped set up the project Solidarity Kitchen as part of the network Co-operation Birmingham, offering our kitchen space and staff as voluntary help towards feeding those self-isolating in the city without means. If you have free time to help, or can make masks, get in touch! Social causes have always been at the heart <3 of what we do at the Warehouse Cafe and nothing will stop us.
We are still waiting to see when it will be safe for the hospitality sector to re-open – we anticipate we will be one of the last sectors to start trading again (for good reason!). In the meantime, we’re busy dreaming and concocting what the next phase of the Warehouse Cafe might look like, as running a busy cafe and jampacked events space might not be feasible for the next year! Got any ideas? Send them our way! We want our community to be part and parcel of scheming and dreaming with us. Some ideas we are working on at the moment range from a fully-fledged delivery service, a co-op cycle delivery platform, to veg box distribution and social distance events. In the meantime, we’re holding our horses and spending our time helping others in our city <3 We’re a workers’ co-op and co-operation and concern for our community are two of our driving principles!
BIG NEWS!! We have launched our crowdfunder survival fund, if you’d like to donate please click here → support us! (Psss, you get to watch our launch video too!).
We will keep you updated! Check out our Facebook and Instagram for sneak peaks on how we’re using the kitchen now and to stay in touch <3
Solidarity Kitchen for Co-operation Birmingham
It’s official! We are on board. Let’s do this ✊✊
Plans are still changing quickly but the cafe is going to be a Solidarity Kitchen for Co-operation Birmingham. The cafe will also be providing our food service at least for the next week but only as a takeaway, with deliveries to come as we iron out the details. Opening times are unchanged.
In terms of Co-op Brum our role will be providing the kitchen infrastructure and cooking skills for the project which will be bringing prepared food and supplies to those in lock down/self isolating.
The Solidarity Kitchen is going to be done on a pay as you can basis and will hopefully be replicated by other kitchens across the city.
Please donate below to Co-operation Birmingham for the starting costs of setting this up. They raised over £1000 in the first day but much more will be needed if we are to make a difference.
In times like this, we can only look to each other and act where we can. People aren’t apathetic, they are disempowered, lets show people what happens when we care for each other.
With love, and clean hands.
The Warehouse Cafe.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/cooperation-birmingham-mutual-aid-kitchen