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Social Pantry, London’s leading independent caterer has been honoured with a King’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility. The King’s Awards for Enterprise recognises leaders in their field who adopt exemplary working practices and inspire other businesses.
Alex Head started Social Pantry in 2011 out of her passion for getting people together over good food and it has become London’s go-to catering company, serving fresh, exciting, sustainable food at a whole host of unique events, exclusive venues and workplaces across London and beyond. Alex’s ethos when she established the company and which remains today is that Social Pantry’s core mission is to deliver ‘Food with Impact’, aiming to make catering about more than just the food and to show it’s possible to make a positive impact on the world while creating a memorable food experience. The work Alex has led with prison leavers is a key part of this mission.
Social Pantry began to employ prison-leavers in 2015 when it was just an 8-person team, as a result of a visit Alex made to HMP Isis alongside charity Key4Life. Since 2015 Social Pantry has employed 42 prison leavers, facilitated work tasters to 22 and aims for 10% of the core workforce to be prison leavers.
For the last ten years Alex has personally worked within the prison system, alongside charities, PELs and prison leavers to help disadvantaged people gain employment, to rehabilitate prison leavers and reduce re-offending, and to promote social mobility. She sits on the Employment Advisory board of HMP Wandsworth, offering advice to both individuals in prison and businesses looking to employ them.
Alex Head comments: “I am thrilled that my work with prison leavers has been recognised by His Majesty the King with a King’s Award for Enterprise. It’s ten years since I met my first mentee in HMP Isis, I knew that even as a small business I wanted to make a difference and could remove the barriers that faced prison leavers to give them an opportunity at Social Pantry. I’m really proud that I have been able to help so many prison leavers with paid work and training in the hospitality industry and take time to encourage other businesses to begin their own initiatives with prison leavers. I am excited to continue to develop my work and continue to impact in this area.”
Social Pantry focuses on providing the right skills, training, support and resources for individuals to be able to perform at work and retain a job once they have left prison. By offering employment to men and women coming out of prison Social Pantry can offer independence, earning power, a structured routine, social contact, and motivation all of which has a direct effect on reducing reoffending.
Further to securing a job, prison leavers working at Social Pantry are offered pathways for career progression helping them overcome obstacles that would usually hold back their employment prospects. In addition, Social Pantry understand that prison leavers can face unique challenges on beginning work and so provide tailored, flexible assistance to address the diverse barriers they come across, this could be offering additional support such as setting up bank accounts, acquiring ID, and finding appropriate housing.
As well as providing work for prison leavers within Social Pantry’s core business, Alex and her team has worked with HMP/YOI Feltham to create a successful training program at its café ‘Lock Mess’ and has been asked to duplicate this setup for other cafeìs in prisons by the Department of Justice.
In addition, Social Pantry has hosted four Social Suppers – an event for the public where prison leavers are teamed with leading chefs with the aim of increasing awareness of Social Pantry’s work in this sector and showcasing to organisations the benefits of offering opportunities to disadvantaged individuals.
Social Pantry aims to increase the impact of its work with prison leavers by acting as an example for other organisations by providing advice, contacts and pathways to begin their own initiatives. Alex and other members of Social Pantry’s team regularly speak at conferences and events, and to media sharing how Social Pantry is making an impact and supporting prison-leavers.
Social Pantry’s work with prison leavers has previously been recognised by crime prevention charity Key4Life, with its prestigious Key4Life YOUNITED flag. Eva Hamilton MBE Founder and CEO of Key4Life comments: “Social Pantry has shone a light on some of the most marginalised young people who have been to prison and provided a lifeline to them through work tasters and employment. It is such a well-deserved award and we hope at Key4Life many more companies will follow Alex and Social Pantry’s great example, they have set the bar high!”
Social Pantry is one of 197 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise in 2025 and one of 10 organisations to receive a King’s Award for Promoting Opportunity this year.
