2023 has begun with some changes at The Food Chain as we face some unprecedented challenges.
The price rises in food and energy have hit all the users of The Food Chain’s services hard over the past year, following on from the very difficult and unique circumstances of the pandemic. With grocery price inflation in the UK hitting a record high of 16.7% in January 2023 and our café energy bills doubling, The Food Chain has undertaken a thorough and measured review of our operations.
We are sad to announce that as part of this review, we have concluded that the economic climate is such that we are unable to stay in our relatively new community café space on the Gray’s Inn Road. The Food Chain has been part of the King’s Cross Community for nearly a decade and we have made many great connections which we hope to continue from our new locations.
The Community Café’s last day of trading will be on Friday February 24th. We have loved seeing old friends and new come through our doors, and it has been a pleasure to serve you coffee and cake
This means however that our wonderful Helen, who was brought on board in April last year to manage the café, will sadly no longer be in post. Helen has been a fantastic addition to the staff team and has made great strides towards the café becoming a thriving community space. In another economic climate, we have no doubt that this would have continued. In her 7 years of involvement with The Food Chain, Helen has always been an integral part of our community and the staff and trustees will take this and many other opportunities to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to her.
Although we are very sad that the café has to close, we are very happy to announce a new venue for our Eating Together meals on Wednesdays and Saturdays thanks to our friends at Positive East in Stepney. We will be planning for this to happen during the month of March.
We are very lucky to be able to conserve our specialist HIV dietetic and nutrition team which are the core of making us the only HIV specialist dietetic charity in the UK. We value the support of all our stakeholders – volunteers, trustees, staff, supporters, HIV organisations and funders and the most important of all those who use our services.
The Food Chain has lived through many challenges over more than three decades and although these are very hard times, we remain to ensure people living with HIV in London can access the nutrition they need to get well, stay well and lead healthy, independent lives.