Social Pantry secures £1.1m funding to drive growth

Events caterer Social Pantry has secured a £1.1m investment and is setting its sights on growth.

Social Pantry, founded by Alex Head in 2011, is seeking further partners to work with after securing the funding from Edition Capital. It currently operates in seven locations across the city, including Social Pantry Café in Battersea; Soane's Kitchen at Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing; and Crane's Kitchen in Peckham.

Head said: "I founded Social Pantry eight years ago after seeing a gap in the market for exciting, innovative and good-quality event catering. We have worked with some brilliant brands and individuals along the way, and created one-of-a-kind, memorable experiences, from product launches for world-famous supermodels, to being the catering partner for London in the Sky, serving dinner 100ft high in the air. Throughout our journey I have worked hard to ensure the same philosophies we started with are still instilled in the business today."

The growth will also allow the founder to expand her work with London prisons and charities to offer job opportunities to ex-offenders. Since 2015 Head has been ambassador for young ex-offenders charity Key4Life, as well as working with social enterprise Bad Boys Bakery, and 10% of the catering company's staff are former offenders.

She added: "I am honoured to work with some incredible individuals, including many, who after difficult starts, could have gone on to lead very different lives. This investment will allow us to further realise our ambitions, both in terms of growing the business to reach new markets, but also, with helping more people than ever turn their lives around through work opportunities in the hospitality industry."

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