Create in call for investors to help expansion

Norman Pickavance, chairman of Leeds-based Create, said it needed between £250,000 and £1m for the next immediate stage of its expansion which includes bidding for public sector catering contracts.

Create is in advanced discussions with a Yorkshire local authority to run its catering contract, which would include a large cafe and providing catering for thousands of people.

Mr Pickavance, who is also HR director for supermarket giant Morrisons, said if Create was successful, the contract would add 10 per cent to its turnover, which is expected to reach £1.9m this year, create at least 30 jobs and benefit hundreds of people who used its services.

“It would be a big leap,” he said. “It would demonstrate there is a different way of providing local authority services. A way where you can actually combine the work of two different sides of the local authority – social care and catering services.

“It would be a big injection of funds because it’s a big contract. But for us to be able to do that we have to put in a significant amount of capital to fit out kitchens and we don’t have access to that.”

The community interest company was set up five years ago as a catering firm, employing homeless people to make sandwich platters and finger buffets for weddings and office parties.

It now has a training academy in the centre of Leeds, accommodating up to 45 trainees at a time, and it currently delivers outside catering and hospitality to around 1,000 people per week. Its clients include developer Land Securities, Lloyds Banking Group and Baker Tilly.

It also has business centres in Doncaster, Sunderland and Greater Manchester and operates the visitor centre cafe at Manchester Cathedral. It is in the process of establishing a new business centre in Liverpool.

Each year, Create trains 80-100 people in each of its locations.

Last year, Create, which employs 64 staff, moved into uncharted territory with a flagship restaurant in Leeds, staffed by homeless or ex-homeless people working alongside established professionals. But it now needs further investment to take it to the next level.

Mr Pickavance said: “It is a watershed because we’re at the limits of what we can do. Doing the restaurant was a big stretch but it’s raising the profile and doing all the right things. But we really could do with that next boost of investment.”

The company currently has more than 12 small investors and it receives a lot of pro-bono support from firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers and law firm Addleshaw Goddard.

The directors of Create are looking to source further funding from high net worth individuals after becoming the first social enterprise to qualify as an enterprise investment scheme. It is also seeking further funding from the Government’s social investment bank, Big Society Capital.

In addition to bidding for large public sector contracts, Create plans to deliver its business model – a production kitchen, a restaurant and a training academy, working in partnership with local voluntary sector and corporate partners – in a further 10 UK locations over the next five years, which would require millions more pounds of investment.

Mr Pickavance said: “I’m very pleased and proud of the work that Create has done and where we have got to in five years. But if we want to expand this way of doing things – being a charity but trying to support ourselves – then it really does need some serious backers, and soon.”

For each £10,000 investment, investors will subscribe for an ordinary share in Create. The maximum total investment for this share issue is £10m.

Mr Pickavance said that investing in a social enterprise was different to investing in a charity.

“We’re not looking for handouts,” he said, “Investors won’t make a big profit but they will get something back.

“There’s a risk associated with that but more importantly, they will see the lives of hundreds of people transformed as a result of the work we do.

“People see investors and philanthropists as separate but we want to persuade people that you can combine the two things and receive the tax benefits of investing while seeing a social benefit.”

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