Coffee fix for PE’s unemployed
(Port Elizabeth) – More unemployed Nelson Mandela Bay residents could find a future in coffee after the Red Band Barista Academy received a caffeine boost from Baywest Mall this week.
On Thursday, representatives from six of the mall’s restaurants and coffee shops handed over the proceeds from their Mandela Day promotion to the academy, which trains people who have never had a job to serve “restaurant-grade latté art”.
According to the Leva Foundation, which runs the academy, almost 80 baristas have been trained to date, with 90% of them going on to find gainful employment – some at Baywest Mall coffee shops.
Foundation MD Ryan le Roux said: “The R5,000 donation will help take unemployed youth through the Red Band Barista Academy and into meaningful employment.”
The participating tenants – Melissa’s, vida e caffè, Wimpy, John Dory’s, Panarottis and Biloxi Spur – donated the cost of a cup of coffee for every two coffees sold on Mandela Day.
Baywest Mall marketing manager Lindsay Steele said more than 200 cups of coffee had been sold on the day, raising a total of R5,000 for the academy.
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