PEOPLE IN FOOD
With the Fair Shot Cafe, Bianca Tavella has created a trainee programme for adults with learning disabilities in a coffee shop setting
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Hi Bianca. Where did the idea for the Fair Shot Cafe and charity start? It’s been my dream since I was about 13. I grew up in a parish community in Fulham, and my parents along with others set up a support group for families with children with learning disabilities called Friends For Friends. I became good friends with a young man called Zach, who is autistic. He said his dream was to open a fully cheese-based restaurant, and we laughed about it. That’s when I realised it might be possible.
The cafe opened in 2021 in London’s Mayfair and serves speciality coffee and food. How is the traineeship programme set up? We take on trainees for a year, once they’ve finished college. It’s a step before an apprenticeship or full-time paid employment. There are 12 trainees every year. This year’s group started in September; 10 have autism and two have Down’s syndrome. At every shift at the café, there are always four trainees with learning disabilities, two cafe baristas, and one job coach who is an expert on learning disabilities.
What skills do the trainees learn? All sorts: customer service, barista skills, food prep, hygiene and cleaning, but none of that really matters if they don’t have the confidence to use those skills and be independent. When we first opened, the trainees had to be shadowed with everything, but they’re now at a stage where every single one of them is completely independent. They will open the cafe, close it, clean it, restock it; they basically run it.
In what ways has the cafe benefited the trainees on a personal level? I mean, in every way. They always tell me they feel normal for the first time in their life. We had two trainees that literally didn’t speak before they started the programme in September, and now they’re working on the till every single day. Being part of this progr
