It's All About The Cooks!
So, what is it all about? In the words of Ben, the Marketing and Operations Executive at AATC, “All About The Cooks is an online marketplace that enables home cooks to make money selling food from their own kitchens.” The idea behind the company was to give talented home cooks a platform where they can share delicious food with the people near them.
As part of our vision for building a better future for refugees and migrants in the UK, ACH has been working together with All About The Cooks (AATC), a platform that enables home-cooks to sell their delicious food online. Founded in 2019 in Bristol by Claire Ladkin, AATC has since bloomed raising over £350K through crowdfunding in the spring of 2022 and recently launched its second branch in Bath.
Following the application process, AATC staff support the home cooks to set up their online profile and create a menu. Furthermore, the team organises a professional food photography session led by a migrant photographer, Mireya Gonzalez. There is no professional experience required to sign up as a chef on the platform, and after onboarding, the home cooks can begin selling their food across Bristol and Bath through the easy-to-use cook dashboard on which they can manage their own orders and payments easily.
AATC encourages cooks, where possible, to use either reusable or compostable food packaging. They also operate on a hyper-local level, meaning that the cooks only sell to their local communities and neighbours - mostly on a click & collect basis. This reduces emissions released in unnecessary food transit and emissions used to keep food cold over long journeys. These steps are in harmony with ACH’s Green Growth Accelerator Project that encourages refugees and migrant-led (RML) businesses to be more sustainable.
ACH is collaborating with AATC and three of our service users: Nesrin, Salha and Navid have already benefited from joining All About the Cooks. Here’s what Salha and Nesrin had to say:
Salha: "They set up my profile for me and took photos of my food. They organise the website for me. All my clients order through there, and they are really happy - I have got lots of good feedback! My clients especially find it really easy to order!"
Working with AATC has given Salha the confidence to take her business to the next level. Her interaction with customers has significantly improved. She set up a food stall in the recently concluded “Celebrating Sanctuary” festival in Bristol and the crowd loved her food so much that it was all completely sold out!
Nesrin: "All About the Cooks are really helpful and supportive; it was my first step for selling on a website - They even helped with allergen stickers! They are incredibly organised, doing their work in easy steps. Big thanks to Izzy, Claire, and All About the Cooks! All About the Cooks is the best way for anyone to start a food business, and they really put a lot into promoting it!"
The collaboration between ACH and All About the Cooks empowers food entrepreneurs from refugee and migrant-backgrounds to begin their journey selling food. It also means that these talented cooks, who would otherwise be unable to make money from cooking delicious food at home, are able to make money doing what they love - sharing their food and their culture to their new communities.
The platform provides a space for food entrepreneurs to start building their food businesses with little to no risk. This means that, with trial and error, home-cooks using the platform can gain important experience working in the food industry. The longer they are on the platform, the more the cooks are able to understand the costs involved in making their dishes, how much they need to charge in order to make a profit, as well as a number of other benefits that come with entering the food industry in a low-risk setting.
If you, or someone you know, are looking for business support in Bristol or wants to explore sustainable business development through the Green Growth Accelerator Project, get in touch with our Business Support Team:
Business.support@ach.org.uk
