Building on our learnings from the exchange, we have identified the following actions for our own development:
Phased growth of income: We will explore a staged model of income diversification, beginning with modest trading activity and working gradually towards a greater proportion of self-generated revenue.
Market positioning: Our branding and marketing will prioritise the quality of our food offer, ensuring that customers buy from us first because of the product, with the added value of supporting a social cause.
Premises and facilities: Unlike Sunshine Kitchen, we already have our own premises, but to support growth we will need to furnish and equip a dedicated preparation kitchen. This will allow us to expand production capacity efficiently without the logistical challenges they faced.
Testing viability of new services: We will adopt a step-by-step approach, piloting new services carefully and
evaluating their commercial and social return before committing resources at scale.
Learning Outcomes
- Diversified Revenue Streams – We aim to understand how a social enterprise can generate sustainable income from multiple services while maintaining its charitable mission. This includes exploring income sources, pricing strategies, and the balance between social impact and commercial viability.
- Competition and Marketing Strategies – We will examine how the organisation positions itself in a competitive catering and market environment. This will cover approaches to branding, marketing channels, customer engagement, and strategies for standing out from competitors while securing repeat business.
- Setting Up, Launching, and Lessons Learned – We will learn from the organisation’s experience of starting and growing its operations, including the practical steps taken, challenges encountered, solutions found, and key lessons. We will also seek advice that could guide our own expansion into new services.