Fat Macy’s: The training academy lifting young people out of homelessness and into hospitality jobs

Colossal piles of aubergine and chicken are being chopped and stacked up when Big Issue arrives at Hackney School of Food in East London. 

“What are you cooking?” we ask one of the chopper-uppers. He laughs. “We’re cooking a lot.”

The chefs are trainees with Fat Macy’s, a London-based social enterprise which supports people living in temporary accommodation by offering training in culinary and hospitality skills before helping them to secure employment and housing.

There’s good reason for the stacks of aubergine. The students are preparing a celebratory feast for their friends and families, having reached the end of the six-week training course and now ready to move on to the next stage of Fat Macy’s Milestone Programme, where they will be helped to find work.

“It’s changing my life,” says 23-year-old Hiba, who has struggled to get a job and is living in temporary accommodation. 

“I’m trying to do better. I haven’t really had the support from any kind, anywhere. All the other charities help me with some stuff, but they don’t help with employment and somewhere to live. It’s just either one.”

During the Milestone Programme, trainees gain essential hospitality and wider employability skills, including barista training, customer service, CV writing, interview workshops and more. They also get a Level 2 Certificate in Food Hygiene and Safety. 

Fat Macy’s then supports graduates into paid work by connecting them to employers in the hospitality sector, as well as continuing to support their wellbeing with social trips and access to counselling and life coaching.

And once they have sustained employment for three months, Fat Macy’s helps people find long-term accommodation in the private rented sector – which includes offering them financial assistance of up to £1,500 to cover a rental deposit and moving costs.

“We’re removing that very real structural barrier of finances of moving from temporary accommodation into the private rented sector,” says Ryan McKiernan, managing director at Fat Macy’s. “In very simple terms, we are offering a sustainable and realistic pathway from hostel to home.”

There are 12 trainees taken into the programme each year, and 93% of graduates sustain their private rental accommodation for at least a year afterwards, while 77% of them are in employment, training or further education.

It’s the kind of holistic support that many in the homelessness sector think is needed to truly make a difference to someone’s life. If you provide a person with employment support but they are unable to secure a home, it is more challenging to sustain work. And if you provide them with housing support without a job, how will they afford rent?

“It’s nothing short of transformative,” McKiernan adds. “We work with our trainees for up to three years in a formal setting. That is a real unique selling point of the work we do, and I would say it’s quite unusual for the sector to have such long engagement. 

“We are open to people of all ages, but we do tend to see mostly young people.”

Read more:

• What is a social enterprise?
• NEETs crisis: How did one million young people fall off the career ladder?
• Hip hop star Loyle Carner is cooking up solutions for young people with ADHD at Chilli Con Carner

That is particularly important at a time when there are almost a million young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). The government knows this is a problem and has commissioned former health minister Alan Milburn to uncover the scale of the issue and recommend ways to tackle it. The final recommendations are expected this autumn, and perhaps Fat Macy’s can provide some inspiration.

For Hiba, it has been “very, very difficult to find a job”.

“Last time I had a job was the end of last year,” she says. “Since then, I’ve been trying to apply. I’ve done a lot of different courses. I have a very good CV but somehow I can’t manage to get a job. And just the way the job market looks right now, it’s very difficult.”

Jobs in restaurants, pubs and cafes are harder to come by as the hospitality sector struggles to cope with rising costs – a third of businesses are operating at a loss, according to UK Hospitality. Meanwhile, rents are at record highs, averaging at £2,791 a month in London.

But training with Fat Macy’s has given Hiba real hope for the future. 

“It feels very nice that when you come here, they are going to help you with employment. They have connection with a lot of different companies and people and they have people come in and they’re very aware of what situation we are in, so I feel like they’re nice to us.”

“It’s nice to have a routine,” Hiba adds. “It’s nice to have something to wake up for. 

“Most of us are living in temporary accommodation, so most people don’t have jobs or school. But coming here has been very routine and we’re learning a lot of different stuff and meeting new people. 

“I feel like we’re all going in the same direction. It makes it easier to work together because everyone wants the same goal.”

Sitting beside her in the garden of Hackney School of Food in the sunshine, her fellow trainee Jamal agrees.

“I previously worked in the city. I feel like this course is just for me to return back to where I was before,” the 28-year-old says.

“These past six weeks have been eventful, we’ve gone to different places, we’ve seen different types of catering companies, coffee companies, we’ve also worked in the kitchen learning different skills which I feel like has benefited us.”

Around 75,000 households in London alone are currently living in temporary accommodation – accounting for half of the total in England as a whole. 

Andy Burnham’s government has committed to offering people a route off the streets by Christmas, but what happens after they end up in temporary accommodation?

It can be months or even years before people secure a more permanent home.

“There is a homelessness crisis in the UK and particularly in the temporary accommodation system,” McKiernan says. 

“We see the number of households is at a record high at the moment and people are fundamentally just stuck.”

He adds that there is a “real growing sense of optimism and hope in the sector and Andy Burnham has really placed homelessness and the ending homelessness strategy at the heart of his government and that has to be welcomed”.

McKiernan adds “All of the right signals are being made and there is a moral imperative to end rough sleeping. 

“Everyone deserves the right to a safe and secure home. I do think we have to think about what comes next though, and all of those individuals who are maybe removed from rough sleeping will ultimately end up in some form of temporary accommodation and that system is already creaking and under strain.

“We need to think on a much larger scale what is the overall strategy how do we tackle homelessness as a whole and not just the tip of the iceberg.”

Since its inception 10 years ago, Fat Macy’s has been working to hone that blueprint for a sustainable pathway
from hostel to home. 

It has delivered £70,000 of grants to beneficiaries and delivered 15,700 hours of hospitality training and work experience. 

McKiernan suggests that perhaps in future it could be expanded or replicated beyond London throughout the UK.

Hiba and Jamil say they wish more people knew that Fat Macy’s exists.

Jamil recommends that if people are eligible and living in temporary accommodation, they can refer themselves through Fat Macy’s website. 

“Especially if you want to work in hospitality, it’s a great pathway to get to where you’re going. 

“We travel all over London, get to see different spaces, whether it be in the food industry or the coffee industry, you get a chance to see different things,” he says.

Hiba nods enthusiastically, saying that she would recommend Fat Macy’s to anyone.

“I think it’s very sad that a lot of people don’t really know about Fat Macy’s,” she says. 

“The way that they work is very different from other charities since they help you to change
your life. 

“I feel like more people should know about this programme. If you really want to change your life, it’s not that hard. If there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

Change a vendor’s life.

Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week – and always take the magazine. It’s how vendors earn with dignity and move forward.

You can also support online:
Subscribe to the magazine or support our work with a monthly gift. Your support helps vendors earn, learn and thrive while strengthening our frontline services.

Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.