Bind CIC was created to tackle food waste in the North East. Bind aims to deliver practical, positive, and permanent change for the UK's food waste challenge.
Through a series of flagship projects, including Magic Hat, Newcastle’s only café using surplus ingredients to craft delicious daily menus, Bind aims to keep learning and proving it can tackle food waste in any arena.
Why was the charity founded?
Bind was founded by Duncan Fairbrother and Jess Miller in 2015 who both came from years in the hospitality sector, witnessing first-hand the levels of waste that existed from procurement to plate.
We believe through a series of projects that we have developed over the past 8 years, including Magic Hat café, Foodicate food waste app, and EatSmart; a project designed for primary school pupils to learn about the UK food waste challenge, we can engage and educate on the topic of food waste in a meaningful and realistic way.
Which areas do you cover?
Although Bind was founded in Newcastle, we now work across the whole of the North East. We live in a place that struggles with a host of political and social challenges and we recognise for us to create the connections that effect change, we must have an approach to all our work that isn’t exclusive and too heavy.
What type of events do you have?
There are lots of ways to support the organisation, but the easiest way is to join us for a delicious meal at Magic Hat. The menu changes daily as ingredients, collected and donated from eateries and food stores across the Northeast, are harnessed to create vibrant and nutritious dishes by our chef and volunteer kitchen team. Each daily menu includes 6-8 dishes that are priced on a sliding scale according to how plentiful the ingredients are and the skill needed to produce the dish.
What is your mission?
As a team, we believe that zero food waste is within our reach. We want to reconnect people with food and believe that better decisions around food can affect everyone you know (and everyone you don’t). Bind recognises that we don’t have to shout too much about why we shouldn’t waste food, we just have to remind people about its potential and what is possible when we approach it differently! Through our projects and spaces, we aim to engage across sectors and communities and begin those conversations about sustainable food practices that lead to positive change.
What have been your proudest moments so far?
Our proudest moments come from building an amazing team of staff and volunteers who we couldn’t do this without. The voluntary program we have running through all our projects gives an opportunity to not only contribute to bettering food systems, but to connect with new people, gain language or cheffing skills and increase confidence. We have shown by enabling volunteers to gain qualifications, and experience, they find work and often in the environmental and hospitality sectors. We currently have over 200 volunteers who work throughout our projects and represent the richness and diversity of our city.
What are you currently working on?
We’ve just launched our new menu and dynamic payment structure at Magic Hat. Since we have no control over our supply, inevitably there are only limited amounts of some options, whilst others are plentiful. Equally, some dishes involve high levels of skill and lots of time to perfect, whereas others stay very close to the ingredients’ pure form, that is how we determine a dish’s price. We also are widening the reach of our Eat Smart project, which is designed for primary school pupils to learn about the UK food waste challenge and start tackling it, starting right in their school. The project is pupil lead and currently in 26 schools across the region, it, saves a school 6000+ meals from being wasted worth over £13,000, each year – and every year.
How do people get involved?
Come and see us and enjoy some food that is way too good to be wasted! The Magic Hat is open from Thursday to Sunday between 10 am and 4 p.m. for brunch, lunch right in Newcastle City Centre.
Find out more at www.projectbind.com and www.themagichatcafe.co.uk