Cooking Up Change at Clean Air Day evening reception

This Wednesday is Clean Air Day 2025

We are honoured to be the chosen caterers for the evening CLEAN AIR DAY Reception to be hosted at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital!

Cooking up change and providing tasty, global and climate-friendly catering for this event truly fits with our environmental values.

Join us at this inspiring evening celebration that will talk about how we can all take climate-action and how air pollution can be improved for our children, families and friends across the West Midlands!

We believe this event matters…

Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK, causing 36,000 deaths each year in the UK. Air pollution is a public health crisis and requires a health sector approach. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as lung cancer, leading to reduced life expectancy.

Health matters: air pollution - GOV.UK

Tickets available - don't miss out!

Event details | Wednesday 16th June 2025, 6pm to 8pm at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, Grove Lane Smethwick B66 2QT.

Reception hosts | Birmingham Healthy Air Coalition West Midlands Combined Authority Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust

Happy 15th Birthday to Us! 🥳

Yes, today we are celebrating 1️⃣5️⃣ years of cooking up community change... hooray!

Our social enterprise catering business started on this day back in 2010 but our journey of influencing change has been one of kindness.

And yes, catering is about food but for us ChangeKitchen CIC has always been about people.

People in our fabulous, diverse and vibrant community along with...
🧡 our staff team (past and present),
💚 our Board (we are so very grateful),
🧡 our volunteers (you are truly amazing),
💚 our partners (such as Jericho and FareShare Midlands among so many),
🧡 our funders (who support the VCFSE sector),
💚 our supporters (including Social Enterprise UK and West Midlands Combined Authority),
🧡 and our customers... corporate organisations, Kindness Cafe customers, venues, market organisers, local businesses and every one of our social media followers (yes, YOU).

Special mentions have to go out to Tony Colville and Jo Burrill as our longest serving Board members, Richard Beard and Katie Webb of Jericho for being amazing, and Peter Holbrook CBE who always believed(s) in what we are all about and the change we are so passionate about creating.... to change food insecurity and enable food justice for all.

Do you have a special memory of ChangeKitchen CIC?

📸
We'd love to hear your stories of ChangeKitchen CIC over the last 15 years!
Please share your memories as a comment, post your photos to us, or tag us for a birthday re-post.

To everyone who has been part of our social enterprise journey of the last 15 years... THANK YOU!

With deep gratitude and great excitement as we look ahead to the next 15 years,

Birgit Kehrer

ChangeKitchen CIC - Mental Health Awareness Week

‘Being part of a safe, positive community is vital for our mental health and wellbeing’ - bIRGIT kEHRER

That is what our CEO Birgit Kehrer said about mental health.

Mental Health is important in today’s climate especially in hospitality and catering where things can get intense. At ChangeKitchen CIC we acknowledge this. According to a recent study by Hospitality Action, 68% of hospitality professionals have faced mental health challenges.

At ChangeKitchen we want to create an environment where people can thrive and excel. We do this by making sure people feel safe in the environment they work in, by creating a space to focus, and do their best work, between their busy and multifaceted lives, and by giving the flexibility our employees deserve, ensuring that they are valued and respected.

Tommy our General Manager says this:

‘As the General Manager at ChangeKitchen, it is really important to me, and key to the social impact we strive to create, that our staff come to work feeling safe, valued, and ready to work in an environment that respects them and meets them where they are at in their lives. Our diverse team comes from all walks of life, and I am personally struck by the motivation, energy and good vibes they bring to our kitchen each day, despite significant challenges in their personal lives and on their mental health. Over 7 years, I have heard from many of our staff that we are that safe place in their lives where they can experience dignity, compassion, and reward at the end of a day’s work, and have seen the difference this can make to overall mental health. I am proud to recognise this work that we do on Mental Health Awareness Week, and I very much look forward to continuing it.’

ChangeKitchen itself is a community with people from diverse backgrounds. Our team are here for each other day in day out by lifting each other up when times get tough which allows our team to thrive not only in the workplace but outside too.

Our CEO Birgit Kehrer talks about the importance of community and how it has helped her mental health just below:

Birgit reading a book, Sakeena and Martha speaking to eachother, Birgit with Andrea and Fran (From left to right)

Mental Health is important whenever and wherever you are.

Take care of yourself from Birgit, Tommy and the rest of the ChangeKitchen team!

#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek2025 #cookingupchange #catererswhocare #socent #LoveYourPlanet

ChangeKitchen CIC - climate-friendly baked in!

We are proudly celebrating world EARTHDAY.ORG on Tuesday 22nd April 2025.

WHY?

Because ChangeKitchenCIC has ‘climate-friendly’ baked into our social enterprise DNA.

SO LET’S UNPACK THAT A BIT MORE…

This years #EarthDay2025 theme is based around renewable energy, something we’re passionate about!

When we expanded our kitchen in 2022/23, we instinctively incorporated the most energy efficient equipment we could afford, and designed the kitchen in the most energy efficient way we could. That also meant installing an air heat pump for our hot water and heating in the #KindnessCafe, and more recently solar panels were added to our building that will mean that during our most busy times in summer, we will be getting up to 100% of our electricity from the sun.

Did you know…

ChangeKitchen CIC was awarded Green Restaurant of the Year by Birmingham City Council the last time it was given in 2012. It demonstrated then, as now, that we are totally committed to both social and environmental impact across our social enterprise. We are, and have always been, fully vegetarian and deliver a lot of vegan food as one way of cutting our carbon footprint.

We believe we are the only fully climate-friendly caterer in the Midlands, certainly the only one that is also a social enterprise (giving back to the community) and have very nearly 15 years positive track record.

Embedded environmental efficacy…

• We recycle as much waste as we can.

• We compost any peelings and and food waste using Bokashi composting in partnership with Compost Connection CIC.

• We save 50-100 tonnes of surplus food from landfill per year.

• We use surplus food to cook nutritious meals for people in need every week.

• We have provided c.90,000 community meals since March 2020 and still supplying 200-400 meals per week.

• We host ‘slow cooking’ classes to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

• We avoid single use plastic wherever possible.

• We use proper crockery and cutlery for our catered events whenever possible.

Exciting news!

ChangeKitchen CIC has now started the journey to becoming a B Lab UK #BCorp in order to demonstrate better what we do already and as a way to see where we can improve.

So, this Earth Day, here are top 3 Climate Hero tips…

1. Understand the difference between ‘Use by’ and ‘Best before’ dates on your food items to reduce food waste.

2. Be inspired by vegetarian and vegan recipes to reduce your meat and dairy consumption and reduce your carbon footprint.

3. Go shopping with your own bags and buy fruit and vegetables loose - perhaps try ‘buying local’ from a farmers market to reduce road miles and pollution too!

We can all take small actions that can make big impacts!

Birgit Kehrer, Tommy and our #ClimateHero team - striving to be better everyday #OurPowerOurPlanet

#cookingupchange #catererswhocare #socent #LoveYourPlanet #DoMoreGood

Social Value Summit - creating sustainable social value

Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Social Enterprise UK Social Value Leaders Summit – a trip to London ensued, and a lot of great networking across the social economy sector.

But, more than that…

Sometimes it’s good, and needed, to look beyond our own regional borders and take time to think and talk strategically.

As CEO of a highly sustainable social enterprise that’s always been passionately ‘Brummie-based’, it can feel a bit distant looking over the fence at ‘the big city’. However, this trip was really timely and super inspiring!

The keynote was delivered by Gareth Rhy-Williams, the Chair of National Highways, and former UK Government Chief Commercial Officer, who set out what the new Procurement Act will mean for social value.

“We all know that growth comes disproportionately from SMEs (and VCFSEs by implication).”

My reflection here was how good it felt to be recognised as a sector. He also made a strong point about encouraging pre-market and pre-procurement engagement of VCFSEs by commissioners and corporates trying to bring VCFSEs into their supply chain. Yes!

We then heard from Minister Georgia Gould MP for a fireside chat about how social enterprises can help deliver mission-driven procurement. Within the fireside chat, she stressed that public sector and large organisations bidding for work with them should engage a lot more with social enterprises.  

“SMEs, and by default VCFSEs, help innovation and positive social impact.”

My thoughts here are that the procurement process, led by the commissioners of services, needs to look at contracts being managed as smaller lots to make them accessible to the market. This would allow for delivery of ‘best practice’ localised services that have innovation at their heart and are people-centred. So, less red tape and more community-focused, transformational solutions.

What energised me about attending this years Social Value Summit was the people.

I met up with long-standing social economy friends, and of course it’s always great to see Peter Holbrook CBE, CEO of Social Enterprise UK! Also, the number of new connections and corporates, all excited to be engaging with the social value conversation, was fantastic.

More than that, here at ChangeKitchen CIC we are starting the next phase of innovation and sustainability as a result of the Crowdfunding for Change campaign we ran last September. We are launching our ‘Ready Meals for Good’ range at the NEC The Workplace Event next week as one of only 10 social enterprises to exhibit.

Every ‘Ready Meal for Good’ purchased helps extend our social value by providing a free community meal to someone experiencing food insecurity... So, to all those who wanted to hear more - thank you!

The VCFSE sector is superbly placed to deliver real change across society and the economy – and ChangeKitchen CIC is ready to play its part!

Birgit Kehrer

Proud CEO of ChangeKitchen CIC – a social enterprise that’s cooking up change for good.

BBC Good Food magazine says it, so it must be true!

We are so very excited and delighted to be featured in BBC GoodFood magazine in the 'just out' April issue!! We are acclaimed Climate Heroes!!

Check out Climate Heroes p.126 in the planet-friendly section and read all about how Birgit and our team, are tackling food waste, one colourful dish at a time.

Birgit says, “I started and continue to run ChangeKitchen CIC because I wanted to work for more than profit. Ensuring we contribute towards positive social and environmental impact combines the beliefs I have held dear since my teens: social and climate justice.

With continued ambition to drive change around the food justice eco-system across Birmingham, ChangeKitchen CIC is striving to innovate in many ways this year.

Launching new products, constantly improving services, releasing new Menus for 2025, recruiting exceptional talent to build the team supporting further growth, and looking at just how green a Climate Hero can actually be (very green as it turns out!).

Out shopping this week... Grab your April BBC Good Food edition and drop it in your trolley lovely friends!

Equality belongs to no one person. Collaboration is key to change.

As we approach 8th March, International Women’s Day, I’m reflecting on the role of women across both society and entrepreneurship.

International Women's Day (IWD) has been around for over a hundred years, as have many of the issues still impacting women's advancement today. I’m proud to say that ChangeKitchenCIC has been around for 15 of those years.

In that time, ChangeKitchen CIC has always been led by a woman (yes, me!), provided positive opportunities in the workplace for women (often those from disadvantaged backgrounds) and created local ‘community action’ based on equity, inclusion, diversity, and kindness.

But we cannot create lasting, sustainable change on our own. Collaboration is absolutely key to advancing gender equality.

GloriaSteinem, world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained, "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist, nor to any one organisation, but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights."

Food and cooking, across all cultures, brings people together.

Sharing food is often a conduit for conversation, exploring cultural beliefs, breaking gender barriers, and making people feel included. We’re particularly delighted to be asked to provide food and refreshments at the first-ever International Women’s Day Conference being organised by Enjoy Kings Heath at Queensbridge School this weekend!

That’s powerful. That’s when good things really happen – at a micro-level for individuals but also in a collective, ‘big picture’ way.

Within the ChangeKitchen CIC team, I’m gratefully supported and inspired by wonderful people such as Thomas Randa (Operations Manager here at ChangeKitchen CIC) and Richard Beard (CEO of Jericho). It’s by being fully inclusive of gender, race, ethnicity, belief, and opinions that we can truly accelerate action and amplify our voice in the gender conversation…

• Yes, there are still barriers to gender equality to overcome.

• Yes, equity for all is a huge part of our social mission.

• Yes, we celebrate every step, every impact, every advancement.

So, to everyone who is part of our ChangeKitchen CIC social enterprise journey, for all those with diverse experiences and backgrounds, we have three golden threads to offer…

1. Treat people with kindness.

2. Respect each other’s views.

3. Do a little more good each day.

Always with joy and positivity, let’s #AccelerateAction together!

Birgit Kehrer and with gratitude to the whole, wonderfully diverse, and inclusive ChangeKitchen CIC team!

How two social enterprises joined forces to create a complete ethical events package

Click through to read about our partnership with fellow social enterprise, Jubilee Events, and the stunning Meynell Langley Hall to serve up delicious vegetarian and vegan food!