Crocodiles!

My Dad has this great saying, which seems to apply to any number of situations:

‘When you’re up to your arse in crocodiles, it’s difficult to remember that the original idea was to drain the swamp’.

I freely admit that my butt is feeling a little snapped at just now!  I put this down to two things:

1)      The fear of the unknown which is manifesting itself in my terror that I will actually have to use my recent first aid training during the pilot scheme!

2)      The rather more realistic reminder that being a full time Mum with a part time job is a very tricky juggle – not sure how I managed to forget that!

So here I am, blogging to remind myself of the ‘original idea’………….

We, the families of this side of the glorious borough of Haringey, do care about what we eat and are tired of having to schlep to Crouch End to get a kiddy friendly, healthy lunch.  We also don’t want to spend a fortune for the privilege.  Yes, that’s it, that’s the reason.

Throughout this pilot and beyond, Renee and I are setting out to create the kind of place that we would want to share lunch with our families and friends, eating healthy, reasonably priced food.  Now that I think about it, I really believe that Friday was the first step towards this dream becoming a reality.  There was a fun, friendly atmosphere; kids were playing, good food was eaten and enjoyed.

Naturally we are eager to fulfil our agreement with Fareshare and use food rejected by supermarkets to create our dishes, thus reducing waste and promoting seasonal eating.  It is all part of the dream, but sadly this will not be possible until we open our doors on a more permanent basis.  Yet, reflecting on it all, I am reminded that this is possible and the pieces of our seemingly unmanageable jigsaw are already beginning to fit together.  It’s good to remember who we are and why.  Ok, now I feel excited, so the crocodiles can get lost! 

We are still taking bookings for March 9^th, 16^th and 23^rd if anyone is interested.  We are at Terront Road Salvation Army Hall, N15, doors open at 11.30, food served from 12 – 2.

Here’s what we will be serving:

March 9^th: Healthy turkey burgers with Turkish bread and roasted vegetables or feta and courgette patties with Turkish bread and roasted vegetables.  Fudge cookies for dessert.

March 16^th: Butternut squash risotto with or without bacon, served with salad or green veg.  Cranberry muffins for dessert.

March 23^rd: Chicken casserole with bulgur wheat pilaf or tandoori tofu skewers.

Sponge pudding and custard for dessert.

We would love to see you there.

Totally Amazing

Last Friday afternoon I was left elated and emotionally exhausted after the first pilot session.  It all went rather well, if I do say so myself. 

The food was delicious, thanks to Renee and the clientele were the finest and most supportive local friends and family we girls could ask for.  THANK YOU.  Nothing would have worked without the mad skills and constant assistance of Julie, Giuliana and Jenai, who did anything and everything they were asked and more. 

Can’t wait to do it all again this week.

If at first you don't succeed.....

 

My Scottish heritage aside, Robert the Bruce would be proud of us! We have try, try tried again and again and again to transform our wonderful idea into an actual legal entity and this week we suffered our latest , time consuming, irritating set- back.  Apparently ‘Filling the Gaps’ is too similar to ‘Filling the Gap’, which, although officially closed, is still on the register at Companies House, so our application has been rejected!  Argh!!  But, being the undeterred little spiders that we are, application number, oh whatever it is now, is already completed and ready for submission and ‘Filling the Gap N15 CIC’ hopes to do better than its dearly departed predecessors….and all of this in the days leading up to the pilot scheme!

On the other hand, I am happy to say that prior to opening the doors and feeding anyone, the pilot scheme has been a great success.  The response from our friends, family and community has been fantastic and we are fully booked for the first three weeks, with only a couple of spaces in week four: any takers?  Folk have even been lovely enough to pay up front, as we the unnamed are as yet to be funded!   I am humbled and grateful you awesome people, thank you and I hope you enjoy the grub.  God willing and the creek don’t rise, we might even break even!  This is in part due to my fab friend Rachel, who introduced us to the wonders of Bookers.  Wow, it was great, who would have known that two grown women, Renee and I, that is, Rachel is no longer such a Booker newbee, could get so ecstatic over giant quantities of olive oil or the price of ground coffee, fair trade,  of course.  It was a proper adventure, akin only to a child being given their pocket money to spend as they wish in a sweet shop, and they did have giant jars of cola bottles too!  Fear not, we were consummately mature and responsible, sticking rigidly to the budget, that’ll be my Scottish roots again!

So with two days to go (GULP), Renee and I are once again riding the seesaw of terror and excitement; it seems to be becoming a theme.  We can’t wait to do it, but it needs to be as perfect as we can make it, because our diners (Oooh, get me) deserve it and because all the eggs are in the basket now, and we seriously want this to work.  When it does, we can start working with Fareshare, save some food, stop some waste and provide the kind of community space we have been dreaming of.  So many dreams……..let’s hope this first step is a pleasant one! 

Re-structuring? Already?

Oh blogger!

Happy New Year, is it too late to say that now?!

We start 2012 with the sad news that Filling the Gap CIC is deceased!  Renee and I murdered it when we discovered that no one will fund a company limited by shares because there is the potential to rake in the profit from dividends.  Although we never had any intention of doing this, prospective funders do not know the quality of our moral fibre and we have received some good advice, from a number of lovely, helpful people, that restructuring now will save later pain.  So we have…..

Please be upstanding for ‘Filling the Gaps  CIC’, a Community Interest Company that happens to be a private company limited by guarantee!

To honest, our choice to be limited by shares was made in excitement, exuberance and error!  We fundamentally misunderstood the notion of liability and feared losing houses etc.  Now, thanks to Making Local Food Work (MLFW) and the lovely Mark and Hayley, we get it!

It’s not entirely back to square one, just some changes at Companies House and the Bank.  The worst part has definitely been trouping through more  Articles of Association.  A degree in English is no match for that crazy brand of over-punctuated legalese!  Once we had made the decision, it was just a case of getting on with it.  Renee is much better at this than me.  I tend to spend pointless, wasted hours considering too many, impossible variables from ridiculous angles, Renee, however, wisely ‘Let’s deal with now, before it becomes a problem’.  So we have……..

Hayley from MLFW has been invaluable in helping us to move forward.  Alongside helping us develop our business plan, she has suggested a pilot scheme…….

So if anyone in the N15 area fancies being fed lunch every Friday for the month of March for £20, drop us an email. Kids eat free.

If not me, then who?

…or in this case, us!  Many people lay claim to this quotation, but the most reliable source seems to be Rabbi Hillel.  Similarly, there are many stories about the situation into which he first spoke this wisdom, but I intend to steal it and exploit it for my own ends!

I am confident of a couple of things in life, God, my family and the fact that between us, Renee and I don’t have the confidence of one normal person!  I use the term ‘normal’ loosely, as it is an overrated state of being.  It seems safe to say that we are confident in each other’s abilities and in the fact that something needs to be done about food waste and the lack of healthy, ethical eating options in our area.  Yet neither of us has ever felt like the trail-blazing kind.  Other, fascinating, innovating, confident people start businesses and turn corners from established, enjoyed careers; not us.  We aren’t natural leaders or entrepreneurs.  We might, however, have the gumption!

Gumption, nous, chutzpah, whatever you want to call it, I reckon we got it! Confidence might be an issue, but tenacity is not.  Alongside integrity and a clear mission, it is something Renee and I have buckets of.  So it was that as we strolled back up West Green Road last Friday, having visited a potential local supplier, pendulum swinging, as it our way, between sheer excitement and utter terror about it all, that we discovered that Rabbi Hillel’s statement had been playing on both of our minds.

‘If not me, then who?’ became ‘If not now, then when?’, ‘If not here, then where?’ and ultimately ‘Why not?’  Things are coming together, and gathering momentum, this was just the spiritual reassurance we needed on a windy Friday morning in late November.

If you have the ways and means, please follow us on Facebook: Filling the Gap and

Twitter: Fillingthegap1

Thanks

Consciously contrary

The last week in the life of Filling the Gap Community Café has been epic!  In terms of planning, doing and achieving, I feel like we jumped up a ladder from square two to fifteen in the space of only five days.  It was terrifying and amazing.  No doubt there will be another plateau whilst we put into action all the marvellous advice we received, but the last few days have most definitely got the adrenalin pumping.

We started the week by meeting with Hayley from Making Local Food Work (MLFW), an amazing and inspiring organisation that supports small businesses like us.  Renee found them and their support has been nothing short of genius.  Hayley spoke about co-ops, local connections and the potential of group buying.  The wonder of it for me is that everything MLFW stand for puts people, environment and ethics before economics.  Of course businesses have to function and I am the first to put up my hands and say that I know nothing about ‘the city’ and how large organisations have to function.  I am only aware of the stereotypes, unfortunately.  However, we’re not trying to be ‘big’, merely significant, different, doing things the best way we know how.  By the end of the meeting, Renee and I felt that our dreams had somehow been validated by Hayley, our expert and enthusiast.

Having someone believe in us who is not obliged to, not that the love and support of our family and friends hasn’t been essential, gave us a boost to keep on climbing up the ladder to achieve the other, rather more mundane, admin tasks that needed doing last week.

Consciously, conscientiously contrary, triple alliteration, ooohhh, I like it.

And so it begins

We are officially a registered business, hurray!  Now the fun really starts………………