London's Brigade restaurant in catering deal for G8 conference

Brigade bar and bistro, a restaurant in London that employs and trains apprentices from a background of homelessness and supports them to build new skills, catered at a high-profile G8 conference last week.

The restaurant was appointed as exclusive caterer for the G8 conference on social impact investment, which took place on London's Bloomberg Auditorium on Friday last week.

As president of the G8, Prime Minister David Cameron invited 150 of the world's leading social innovators including policy makers, philanthropists, investors, academics and representatives of social enterprises, such as Brigade.

Brigade operates as a social enterprise in partnership with the Beyond Food Foundation. Based on Tooley Street, the restaurant employs and trains apprentices from a background of homelessness and supports them to build new skills, opportunities and relationships. Through its work, Brigade has managed to become a successful restaurant with a British menu built on local, seasonal produce.

Head Chef and Founder, Simon Boyle, designed a special menu for the occasion, including breakfast, lunch and canapés. His entire team was on site during the day to provide catering services for 200 international delegates and press representatives from the kitchens at the Bloomberg Auditorium.

In advance of the event he said: "This is an extremely exciting opportunity for us to demonstrate how well social investment can work; we're proud to be able to offer international-standard food and service whilst maintaining a financially sustainable business model and supporting a good cause."