We are The Canvas:
and we need your help

FAQs

How long has The Canvas been trading as a social enterprise?

Since 2014. We closed between March - July 2020 for the first covid19 lockdown, then again in November 2020 as per government guidelines. The area couldn’t support takeaway service so we waited until we could welcome people back to our cafe to sit down, and have been trading post-pandemic since 1st July 2021.

What makes The Canvas a social enterprise?

We exist to make a positive impact to our local community, and all profits are reinvested into our social mission, which is to unite people with space and support to solve local problems and make life better for everyone around us.

How does The Canvas fulfil its mission?

Across all our spaces. Our vegan cafe has a Pay it Forward board that provides free hot drinks and home cooked meals to our local homeless community, many who visit us every day for vital nourishment and friendship. We run a Friday food bank every week, served directly from our cafe doors, offering fresh fruit and vegetables provided by the Felix Project. We strive to create an atmosphere that holds no judgement or stigmatism, and our policy is “All welcome, no questions asked.” Our kitchen creates free, hearty meals every Friday, delivered to local voluntary organisations supporting vulnerable people and families.

Our Creative Space creates social impact by providing a platform for positive social change events; free film screenings about human rights or animal welfare, open mic opportunities for new artists and creatives, talks and seminars hosted by London’s change makers.

Our Community Hub is a space that we gift for the launch and growth of grassroots community projects and ideas; we give the space in return for a donation to our Pay it Forward board. We then ask that all events run in the space are provided free of charge to the public, and specifically improve the lives of others in some way. Free events and ideas hosted in the Hub include yoga for families, drama classes for shy children, peer support groups for young people struggling with mental health, and finance classes for social entrepreneurs.

Why is The Canvas facing closure?

The area that we trade in has not bounced back from covid19. Office capacity in the area is still only at 40%, and we relied on local workers using our cafe to trade and keep our doors open for all the people we benefit.

The rising cost of living is also having a direct impact; we just about survived Omicron, and saw sales increasing consistently from the start of 2022. But since the energy price hikes, and now rising inflation, sales are dropping again; April was -5% on March and May -15% on April.

Since we reopened from covid19 in July 2021, revenue has dropped by 60%, or £76k. We’re a small business, and we simply don’t have the reserves to sustain this on our own.

What have you done to try and increase trade?

We’ve been reaching out to local businesses to book office catering with us, and have improved our catering menu to secure bookings. We’ve also improved our cafe menu to attract more vegan and vegetarian customers seeking fresh and homemade food that also gives back to the community. We’ve done what we can with the small budget we have to improve our spaces, like our cafe and garden, working with artists to bring excitement and colour to our customers’ experience with us. We’ve been pushing our social media marketing to try and bring people back through our doors.

We’ve also been applying for funding to run projects that will help our community and where we can cover some core costs within the grant, but have been frequently unsuccessful against the huge increase in competition due to the fragile situation that many social enterprises like us find themselves in.

What about your art plates project with Gilbert + George; doesn’t that enable you to trade without people coming into your cafe?

It's been a tremendous boost in so many ways, we cannot express our gratitude enough. We consistently send out the free meals that the sale of the plates enable. But the pandemic has seriously slowed down the sale of our plates (people being harder up, lack of exposure due to other very worthy news stories) which means we still have some in stock in the warehouse, the storing of which costs money. So please have a look at the website, they continue to be wonderful and will continue to do the good they always have done once sold. https://www.doublehelpings.shop/

What will the Save Our Seats campaign enable you to do?

We need a new business model in this new trading environment. We can’t rely on cafe customers, as we have no idea when the area will bring office workers back; if it ever does, and when local customers will feel they have disposable income again.

The Save Our Seats campaign is crucially keeping The Canvas’ doors open, for as long as possible, to enable my team and I to find that new business model. The new model will involve trade that doesn’t just rely on bums on seats; look out for us on Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats in the future. We’ll be strengthening our relationships with local businesses to provide regular catering for them, and booking fun away days for them in our Creative Space.

What’s the future for The Canvas?

We firmly believe that The Canvas is a replicable business that could rival the big coffee brands on the high street, because it provides everything they do - great coffee, excellent lunches, a comfortable space to sit and meet a friend or do some work - and also so much more. It’s a business with such heart that does all it can to help others. From our supply chain of social enterprises and local businesses, to the Pay it Forward board, food bank and free meals directing nourishing people in need, all enveloped by our mission to bring kindness, humanity and compassion to everything we do; The Canvas could push out its roots into every city in the country, and open its arms to thousands of people. But it can’t do this if it becomes a victim of the pandemic.