British-Afghan restaurant launches crowdfunding campaign to fund new hospitality scheme for immigrants
Cue Point, a British-Afghan restaurant in Chiswick, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for its latest venture, Cue Point Kitchen, aiming to train immigrants in the hospitality industry.
Husband and wife, Joshua Moroney and Mursal Saiq, in the kitchen at Chiswick-based restaurant Cue Point.
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Cue Point Kitchen will use the funds raised to train and educate immigrants, helping them to start businesses in the hospitality sector.
The scheme will begin this summer and will train immigrants in cooking, management and finance, allowing them to gain catering qualifications.
The crowd funder outlines that though 63% of hospitality employees are from marginalised backgrounds, only 6% are in managerial or entrepreneurial roles.
Founders Joshua Moroney and Mursal Saiq hope Cue Point Kitchen will help diversify the hospitality industry and promote those from marginalised communities into more senior positions.
The scheme will also offer sessions on spoken and written English.
Mr Moroney says: “English, minor writing, and stuff like that takes you so high up in the kitchen. So I find that these people always stay on the lower rungs […] they don’t really have the opportunity to move up as fast as they could if they wanted to.”
Small solution for a big problem
However, some doubt the overall impact of these schemes.
Refugee charity support worker, Libby Kane, believes London refugees cannot rely on these schemes in the long term. She believes change is needed at a more systemic level:
“I think for that to be sustainable, long term benefits from this needs to be working in conjunction with political change, and with better support more broadly, for immigrants coming to the UK.”
Ms Kane goes on to explain that, although this training is beneficial, those who have not yet achieved refugee status have a bigger issue: “Currently under UK law if you’re seeking asylum in the UK, you can’t work. You’re banned from working or even in some contexts from volunteering. Changing that would have a huge impact.”
A sinking sector
The scheme comes during a year that has seen a surge in the closure of restaurants.
Due to lockdown, many places cannot afford to stay afloat. For those that can, it remains difficult to hire enough staff.
Despite this struggling industry, Cue Point Kitchen shows many Londoners are still fighting to level the playing field.
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HeadlineBritish-Afghan restaurant launches crowdfunding campaign to fund new hospitality scheme for immigrants
Short HeadlineChiswick-based restaurant launches campaign to support immigrants
StandfirstCue Point, a British-Afghan restaurant in Chiswick, has launched a crowdfunding campaign for its latest venture, Cue Point Kitchen, aiming to train immigrants in the hospitality industry.
Cue Point Kitchen will use the funds raised to train and educate immigrants, helping them to start businesses in the hospitality sector.
The scheme will begin this summer and will train immigrants in cooking, management and finance, allowing them to gain catering qualifications.
The crowd funder outlines that though 63% of hospitality employees are from marginalised backgrounds, only 6% are in managerial or entrepreneurial roles.
Founders Joshua Moroney and Mursal Saiq hope Cue Point Kitchen will help diversify the hospitality industry and promote those from marginalised communities into more senior positions.
The scheme will also offer sessions on spoken and written English.
Mr Moroney says: “English, minor writing, and stuff like that takes you so high up in the kitchen. So I find that these people always stay on the lower rungs […] they don’t really have the opportunity to move up as fast as they could if they wanted to.”
Small solution for a big problem
However, some doubt the overall impact of these schemes.
Refugee charity support worker, Libby Kane, believes London refugees cannot rely on these schemes in the long term. She believes change is needed at a more systemic level:
“I think for that to be sustainable, long term benefits from this needs to be working in conjunction with political change, and with better support more broadly, for immigrants coming to the UK.”
Ms Kane goes on to explain that, although this training is beneficial, those who have not yet achieved refugee status have a bigger issue: “Currently under UK law if you’re seeking asylum in the UK, you can’t work. You’re banned from working or even in some contexts from volunteering. Changing that would have a huge impact.”
A sinking sector
The scheme comes during a year that has seen a surge in the closure of restaurants.
Due to lockdown, many places cannot afford to stay afloat. For those that can, it remains difficult to hire enough staff.
Despite this struggling industry, Cue Point Kitchen shows many Londoners are still fighting to level the playing field.
