The In Good Company team had a very special team lunch at Cafe Van Gogh recently and had the added pleasure of chatting with Steve Clarke, their Founder and Co-owner.

Cafe Van Gogh is a vegan non-profit restaurant and cafe serving delicious seasonal, fresh dishes. They work with Toucan Employment, a learning disability employment charity, to train those who have learning disabilities or struggle with mental health. Trainees undergo job training and support in seeking employment. The cafe also has a ‘pay it forward’ system where philanthropic customers can purchase coffees or non-alcoholic drinks for those who cannot afford it, to pick up at a later date. They also are working to be zero waste and do not use single use plastics. 

Our Interview With Steve

About Steve

Hi, I'm Steve Clarke. I'm one of the directors of Cafe Van Gogh. I founded this place eight years ago. We are a social enterprise. We work with adults and young people with learning disabilities to help them gain the skills for a job in hospitality.

How did you get started and what is your mission?

I decided to open this cafe after working for 20 years in social work. I observed that one of the most discriminated against people in our community are people with a learning disability. I am passionate about making sure that we give people equal opportunity in finding work in the sector.

What has been your biggest success? 

I believe our biggest success is the journey people undergo when they start here until they meet the world of employment and the growth in their confidence. You see people's whole physiology change. And maybe that manifests in terms of people who were initially not able to make eye contact and to serve tables. Our biggest success is also getting people into paid work. And we're very proud to be an employer of people with a learning disability. At the moment 12% of our team are learning disabled. 

What is your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge for us right now is how the cost of living crisis is manifesting in our cafe. It looks like fewer tables are filled with people, especially at lunchtime. Obviously, that impacts our financial situation. We are trying to address this day by day through social media and we were lucky to gain charitable status. Hopefully, it's something we can overcome. We're not alone in this, the whole of hospitality is in the same boat. 

How can In Good Company help?

I'm really excited about In Good Company from a business owner's perspective and from a personal consumer perspective. I support independent businesses principally, but if the independent business is doing something good,  community based or globally based, then they've got my loyalty. 

In terms of what In Good Company can offer us, it's a network. It's a real opportunity to find out who in London is doing similar work and possible opportunities for collaboration. It's a really exciting opportunity to look at what else is going on. The worst thing about being a social enterprise is sometimes you can feel quite isolated and hopefully In Good Company can address some of that and we can meet some like minded people from it. 

What is your favourite good company?

So my favourite clothing brand is Finisterre, they produce beach, hiking, and surfing clothing. They recycle a lot of stuff that they find in the sea and they make clothing out of it. I'm really impressed with everything they do. The quality is great. Their story is lovely. And it's what I spent most of my clothing budget on.

Make sure to watch the full interview on our YouTube here and sign up for our newsletter to gain access to our platform and stay up to date on new Good Companies we are finding!

And if you're in the neighbourhood (or if you're not, it's worth a trek!) visit Cafe Van Gogh.