The chef who helped Jamie Oliver set up his prize-winning restaurant ‘Fifteen’ is behind a new culinary venture intended to boost job prospects in Barnsbury.
Jamie Grainger-Smith has been chief advising for Cafe Niko on the Barnsbury Estate since it launched a few weeks ago.
“I love creating things and starting things up from scratch, I find it amazing,” said Mr Grainger-Smith.
“My role here is to visualise it, dream it, then create it. It poses its challenges, but I see a little business here. It can add benefit to the local estate; it’s very worthwhile.”
The eatery is named after the 19th century Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani in recognition of the numerous Georgian residents in the surrounding area.
The project is partly paid for by £4.5m Big Lottery Fund grant made to Peabody, the housing association in charge of Barnsbury Estate. The plan is to create jobs and plough profits back into helping the community.
Martin O’Donnell, community development manager at the Hub, said: “We are hoping to generate a profit of £10,000 to £15,000 by the third year of operation. We’d like to make more, but we are working within very tight margins.
“Any profit from the café is going to be reinvested into community projects in the surrounding area.”
Mr Grainger-Smith is hopeful that some of this profit will go back into training staff: “I want it to be a place where people can learn as well. I’m very focused on training people.”
On the subject of the menu, he was adamant: “We’re going to make sure we always have decent cakes and decent coffee. That’s a priority.”
(Photo: via Flickr)
