Jia Yuan Lim
University of Strathclyde
Duduzile Rance
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The founder of Launch Coffee, Craig got his inspiration from watching the news on Surplus food in the UK and found that it was ludicrous with all the food being disposed of because of inefficiency. Food scarcity was also happening in Glasgow. He decided to put these two ideas together and use surplus food to feed hungry children. Thus fulfilling UNSDG 2 and 12 of Zero Hunger and Sustainable Consumption and Production respectively.
Craig thought about how to combine both surplus food and food scarcity, helping the children and the environment. The children get free food and this process also helps the environment as surplus food from food businesses is not being consumed and going to waste. As Craig mentions "I'm devoted to helping the kids but in actual fact, they are helping Launch, not the other way around". Craig wanted to make a difference for the kids and the environment from what he saw on the news.
How the business works: Launch Coffee has a food truck named Launch Foods which goes around various parts of the city feeding an average of 300 children at the end of the school day. Offering the children a choice of 2 hot meals and highland spring water. Making sure that each child is properly fed before going home.
The idea that Craig came up with one evening after watching the news has become a business that is still in the process of improving but in the last 4 years has done well. Launch Coffee has made a positive impact in stopping surplus food waste and helping children not go hungry after school.
Craig's inspiration for launch coffee mainly came from watching television, but with a group of volunteers supporting him, Craig was able to get his creative plans off the ground.
Recognising that kids and families "rely on their services" is one of Craig and Launch Coffee's primary drivers. Craig believes he would be disappointing the public if the company ceased offering the service. Launch Coffee receives crucial support from its relationships with suppliers, enabling it to go on providing a service to children and families. The organisation couldn't function as effectively and successfully as it does now without these relationships and support.
Craig proposes that the University of Strathclyde is an ideal area that can help maximise profits which can consequently help Launch Coffee to help feed as many children as possible. The University is able to provide advertising for their movement to help create more outreach. Students can also patronise Launch to help them raise more funds. “Every time you give me £1 today, I can make sure kids are fed”.
Craig also touches on the positive impact that Launch Coffee has had on him personally, by stating that, “you’ll be happier when you help someone, I promise you.” According to (Whillans, 2020), it has been shown that individuals that give food are socialised to be more co-operative and provides emotional rewards. It was also shown that being generous to others can lead to a boost in an individual's happiness.
Launch Coffee's focus on feeding children in need in the Glasgow area has significant business benefits for the local community. By providing meals to children who might otherwise go hungry, Launch Coffee is helping to address a pressing social issue and contributing to the well-being of the community. This can help to build a positive reputation for the coffee shop, increasing customer loyalty and attracting new customers who value socially responsible businesses.
Additionally, Launch Coffee's initiative to use surplus food to feed children also has a positive impact on the environment by reducing food waste. Reducing food waste is a critical part of Scotland's efforts to address climate change(Scottish Government's,2018).
In addition, Launch Coffee's partnerships with local organizations can help to strengthen ties between the coffee shop and the community, fostering a sense of collaboration and shared purpose. For example, the partnership with the University of Strathclyde can help to build connections between the coffee shop and students, potentially leading to increased business and word-of-mouth marketing.
However, Launch is not too sure if they are able to sustain their work of providing food for the children and see major success as they have only launched their business for 6 months so far. It has been a challenge to compete with big brands such as Starbucks and Costa which are very established in the coffee business. But Launch has achieved few wins such as offering and working on office catering services for huge firms such as JP Morgan and Price Waterhouse Coopers. In addition, they also have several other companies becoming their regular customers. Despite this, Craig is humbled and is still in the process of evaluating how Launch Coffee can become a bigger need and be of help to the generations to come.
Currently, Launch Coffee is only able to see a short-term effect as they are feeding children based on the limited number of food partners they have. But Craig is hoping that they can encourage and get more food partners on board in order to secure more food sources to feed more children every day. Craig hopes to see more involvement from the local community to contribute as well.
Launch has a goal of eventually opening an outlet at the University of Strathclyde. With this, he is able to have a bigger reach as every purchase a student makes, contributes to helping feed a child in Glasgow. Craig greatly feels that “it’s your generation that’s going to make changes, it is down to you. If we cared a bit more to look after each other and listen, the world would be a better place”. One of the greatest issues when it comes to food scarcity comes down to bad disposal of food waste such as throwing away perfectly good food. On top of just children, there are many other hungry people around in Glasgow so the problem of inefficiency of producers needs to be addressed. Thus, Craig is hopeful that Launch can have more partners to help eradicate the food waste issue.
Launch Coffee’s societal benefits are to look after the kids in Glasgow. Helping by providing meals for them after school hours so that they do not return home hungry. For environmental benefits, they help by stopping the food surplus and stopping food scarcity. Their goal is to help those children in need but also stop the food surplus in the environment because of “inefficiency”.
Food waste occurs in every stage of the supply chain, but the value-added lost to waste is the highest when consumers waste food (Aktas,E, 2018). Launch Coffee is helping reduce food waste while in the meantime helping provide meals for children and families to not go hungry.
While helping the social and environmental side. Launch Coffee benefits both helping those in need and the environment by reducing food waste.
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Craig Johnson, Founder
