Over lockdown, the charity Social Bite has offered a takeaway dinner created by celebrity chef, Tony Singh, as part of Singh 4 Your Supper, and their excellent brownies for delivery, Box of Joy.
Now, as restrictions ease, they’re going on the road with their repurposed horsebox, which has been transformed into a coffee cart.
They’ve had to be inventive to keep the Social Bite Food arm of the organisation going during pandemic times.
Liam Reid, head of commercial at this charity, which has five social enterprise cafes in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, said: “Social Bite has been doing events for some time, however, when the pandemic hit our delivery and events business, much like everyone else’s, ground to a halt. We quickly realised that we could broaden our approach back into the events space by being as flexible as possible and offering more ways for people to interact with Social Bite’s work. So, here we are, with our fully transportable coffee cart enabling people to do good while enjoying their events”.
One of this horsebox’s first scheduled pop-ups will be at Sound Bites.
This is a concert staged by the Scottish Ensemble, from July 18 to 19, at the Scottish Opera Production Studios in Glasgow.
At this performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which is part of the month-long Live at No.40 festival (July 3-August 1), Social Bite Food will be offering a themed picnic box, inspired by the music, and available in vegan, veggie and standard for £7.99. Tickets for the event, which is outdoors, but covered, and socially distanced, start from £12, with 10 per cent going back to the charity.
Other pop-ups through the summer months are still to be confirmed, but the green horsebox is also available to hire for corporate or private events, from wedding and engagement parties to more general shindigs.
“We hope that private hires will put the coffee cart to great use, alongside general markets and events”, says Liam.
Prices start from £275 for a full day, which includes staff and the set up. Book it and you can feel virtuous, knowing that the proceeds are being ploughed back into the cause, which helps to provide employment opportunities to those experiencing homelessness and provides more than 140,000 items of free food and drink, among other things.
From the horsebox hatch, they’ll be serving up a range of crowd-pleasing food and drink. You can get a cuppa made from eteaket’s wares, including their own Social Bite blend, Positivitea (green, oolong and white tea, with dragonfruit, berries, pink pepper and chamomile), plus toasties, pastries and paninis.
There’s also something to give your event a perk.
“The menu focuses on quality barista-made coffee which is exclusively roasted by our partners Dear Green, and a limited alcohol offering, alongside our cakes - expertly created by our baker Ian, who works from our central kitchen in Livingston”, says Liam. “Flavours include the triple chocolate brownie, as well as traybakes such as coconut and lime, tiffin and millionaire’s shortbread”.
