CORIN BELL: OPEN KITCHEN.
We sat down with Corin Bell from Open Kitchen, Manchester’s leading sustainable food catering company. In this interview, Corin tell us how she came to create Open Kitchen, how they give back to the local community and her hopes for a more sustainable and ethical food future.
Corin from Open Kitchen.
I grew up in Stockport and moved to Manchester to study Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University and never left. When I graduated I got a job with Manchester City council and spent a number of years working on various projects relating to homelessness, housing standards and then eventually environmental strategy, where I ran projects around adaptation to inevitable climate change and sustainable consumption and production.
Through networking and learning about various projects I met Adam Smith who had started The Real Junk Food Project in Leeds. Adam was sourcing food that would otherwise go to waste to create dishes and meals on a pay-as-you-feel basis, making them accessible to everyone regardless of their financial situation. I really loved Adam’s concept and asked Adam if I could bring something similar to Manchester, to which he agreed. So myself and a few friends launched Real Junk Food Manchester.
We started by organising pop-up supper clubs with the amazing chef, Mary Ellen Mctague, who had represented the North of England on the Great British Menu. Her skill, passion and reputation gave us a hell of a start. We then worked with the property company, Bruntwood, who generously gave us discounted market rent on a location for a pop-up cafe on Oxford Road.
When our pop-up cafe came to an end, we decided it was time for a rebrand and refresh, leading us to become Open Kitchen in 2018 and in the middle of 2021, we opened our space in the People’s History Museum as a way of bouncing back from the pandemic.
Open Kitchen is a social enterprise with a unique model. We collaborate with various food and drink businesses to source perfectly edible food that would otherwise go to waste. Everything we buy has super short supply chains and we try to work directly with local, independent farmers and producers who prioritise sustainability and ethical practices in their food production.
We have an exceptional team of wizard-like chefs who play the biggest game of ‘Ready Steady Cook’ since we never know what ingredients we will receive due to the unpredictability of waste. Our chefs adapt to ever-changing ingredients due to seasonal availability, especially when it comes to fruit and vegetables and as a result our menus are always changing and adapting to whatever produce we receive that day.
We also provide event catering services ranging from simple sandwich platters to canapés and weddings and we operate the café and bar at the People’s History Museum in Spinningfields.
Chef preparing food at the Open Kitchen Cafe in the People’s History Museum
‘We have an exceptional team of wizard-like chefs who play the biggest game of ‘Ready Steady Cook’.’
All of our profits, along with some grant funding, are dedicated to supporting the community aspect of our mission. We provide meals and grocery parcels to individuals and families who are struggling with the cost of living. We want to make sure our work has an aspect of inclusion and community care.
The way we operate is by intercepting food that would otherwise go to waste, which means we cannot always predict or control the quantity we receive. Early on, we made a conscious decision to keep the issues of food waste and food poverty separate. Food waste is a massive environmental problem, while food poverty is a significant social issue that needs to be tackled independently.
Our vision for the future is one where food isn’t wasted in the first place and we address social issues systemically. People facing the difficult choice between food and heating are not simply in food poverty but experiencing overall financial hardship and this requires fundamental change in our economic system.
We are conscious of not using surplus food for our community operations, so we invest in local, organic produce. We also work with a couple of local community groups supporting refugees and asylum seekers who lack access to kitchen facilities. We prepare cooked, chilled and labelled meals that can be easily reheated in a microwave, as well as grocery parcels distributed through local independent food banks.
It’s been a rollercoaster. It is hard work. Balancing the environmental goals, social aspirations and financial aspects is a constant challenge. I’ve always been interested in food sustainability and strategy as well as the community aspect of food, so that came naturally to me. However, I’ve had to learn the ropes of running a business as we progressed along the way.
Open Kitchen cafe at People's History Museum, Spinningfields
I strongly believe that a sustainable and ethical food future requires a network of small, independent businesses. One of the issues with larger brands is that as they grow, the connection with day-to-day operations disappears, and the things like staff costs and waste become lines on a spreadsheet. So I can assure you that goal won’t be world domination, as I genuinely believe that’s not the path for a sustainable and fair future.
If people genuinely want to help out, they can subscribe to the Ethical Consumer website and learn more about sustainable food practices and how to make more sustainable food choices. That would make me very happy.
To find out more about Open Kitchen follow @openkitchenphm
Manchester Stories is an ongoing passion project by Blossom Manchester.
For more information or to get involved email: ruby@blossommanchester.co.uk