The Larder- Changing Lives through food - £25,000

The Larder West Lothian is a community-based social enterprise that combats poverty and hunger. They provide a range of services, including employability training, food distribution, cooking classes, and community engagement, to support individuals and families through access to learning and good food.

The Larder are seeking capital funding to extend the bakery shop front and café at Brewster Square, Livingston. The Bakery shop was opened in August 2022 with the aspiration of providing training, employment and work experience opportunities for young people and adults with Additional Support Needs. The bakery shop front only has seating capacity for a maximum of 6 people. However, there is an increasing demand from customers seeking to sit in. The bakery also provides opportunities for The Larder to host work experience placements for young people and adults within hospitality moving towards the job market.

The Larder seeks £25,000 to extend the bakery shop front by renovating the Brewster Square cafe, reconfiguring the layout to facilitate a larger serving and food prep area, increase the number of tables for sit in customers and to purchase new equipment. The larger serving area will allow The Larder to install additional equipment to extend the menu, introduce deliveries with their new electric van, grow sales and create additional jobs and training opportunities.