Birgit Kehrer - Founder/CEO

When did you join ChangeKitchen CIC and what did you do then?

I started ChangeKitchen CIC in 2010 in order to combine my passion for social justice and good food into one mission and enterprise. I was self-employed before setting up ChangeKitchen CIC.

What do you do now?

As we now have a fantastic team for the day to day work, I now mainly run the strategic and development side of the organisation to help us stay relevant and grow. But I love it when I get a chance to do a bit of menu development or help deliver a nice event somewhere.

What’s the highlight of your day at ChangeKitchen CIC?

Sitting down with the team planning even better ways of achieving our mission ‘Cooking up Change’!

What makes you smile at work?

When I see our team with different backgrounds from around the world and all sorts of stories working together well in getting our tasty food to customers.

How do you think ChangeKitchen CIC makes a difference to the local community?

ChangeKitchen CIC was set up to make a difference to communities around us by supporting people furthest from the labour market back to work. Since Covid, we also cook 100 - 400 meals from surplus and send them out for FREE to people in need. We have so far sent out nearly 95000 meals and 10000 bespoke food parcels. We also run the ChangeKitchen Kindness Cafe in Balsall Heath with a pay if forward system where anyone in need can come and get a meal for free or a small donation - and other customers pay meals and drinks in advance .

What’s your proudest moment at ChangeKitchen CIC?

There are too many to count. They are mostly about some of our team making big leaps in their work and private lives. One recent one would be our lovely apprentice Charlotte achieving 3 distinctions in her 3 different parts of her exams and then securing a good job at a well-known chain (although we all miss her at ChangeKitchen!)

What’s would/is be your ‘random act of kindness’?

Outside ChangeKitchen CIC it’s reading about good causes and supporting them through amplification and donations.

What do you do to relax?

My two favourite things to relax and unwind are cycling (off main roads as sadly that is not relaxing in Birmingham) and cold swimming all year round - the colder the better.