Bread in Common uses surplus supermarket food to create a set menu

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An arts organisation has launched a 'pay what you feel' cafe using surplus food from supermarkets that would have otherwise been thrown away.

B-Arts, a theatre company which also runs local bakery Bread in Common, has opened the cafe in Hartshill. People can pop in from 12pm to 2pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Staff deliver their bread, which is handmade across the city. And the bread plus surplus food - donated by Morrisons, Tesco and the Co-op - is used to make a set menu where people can pay as much or as little as they like.

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It is also open on a Tuesday for the chatty cafe scheme, which is an initiative for people to meet others who might be lonely.

The cafe is now managed by Rachel Colerick, who took over in July 2021.

The 28-year-old, from Newcastle, said: "We run a community bakery and cafe.

"We collect a lot of food from supermarkets on a Wednesday and Thursday and we distribute it to people in need, like organisation Stoke Mums.

"We also have a bread delivery service and people can also order perishables with their bread.

"People can come into the cafe and pay what they want."

The cafe reopened in September after being closed due to Covid. Rachel said: "We hope it won't close down again.

"We are very much community-based - we are not-for-profit, although we have to keep the business going and pay staff, but we work with a lot of people with vulnerabilities.

"This includes the Regent College, in Shelton, for people with learning disabilities, and we have someone doing an internship. We try and reach as many people in the community as possible.

"My previous job was in charity work and I have a degree in hospitality and I also used to be in theatre. I saw the job come up and I moved back to Stoke-on-Trent from London three years ago.

"I was looking for a way to integrate back into the community. It's the sort of environment I have always wanted to be in - theatre and food.

"Bread in Common believes food brings people together. People can come and meet others. It is open to anybody."

Speaking about the donations from supermarkets, Rachel added: "It's crazy the amount of stuff we get. There will be crates and crates of food.

"Because of the sell-by date, there's only so much we can do with it. Some weeks, we'll get lots of potatoes, or crates of apples."

To find out more about Bread in Common, click here.

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