Blog. The sad closure of the Red Cup cafe.
December 2, 2022 | Author: Mark Lewis
I was shocked and saddened, last night, to discover on social media that Harrow’s Red Cup Café had been forced to close. Owners Reena and Henal Chotai have been spreading their infectiously positive energy across social platforms since the pandemic hit. The closure was felt like a body blow by the many people around the hospitality community who’ve drawn strength from the Red Cup’s valiant struggles against the current trading challenges.
Reena and Henal are both proud Hospitality Action ambassadors and have become standard bearers for our Invisible Chips fundraising campaign. Through their tireless promotion and their customers’ boundless generosity, they’ve raised around £2500 by selling Invisibles.
What has this money achieved? Here’s a thank you note from someone who received a £250 emergency grant from us, in those febrile early days of Covid, back in April 2020:
“Wow, that is amazing, thank you so much! I can’t honestly tell you how much this will help me in this difficult time. I’m a single parent and haven’t had any income since the beginning of March. I’ve had to go to food banks just to feed my little girl. What an amazing thing you are doing for those in need. From my little girl and me, thank you again from the bottom of our hearts!”
Reena and Henal’s Invisible Chips sales have funded the equivalent of ten emergency grant awards like the one that drew this response.
At Hospitality Action, it’s simply not our style to call operators out, or hold their feet to the fire when it comes to fundraising for us. We’re grateful to those who support us, and respectful of those who either can’t or don’t. Charity needs to be a personal choice – and we know that not supporting us doesn’t mean a business may not be supporting another, equally worthy, cause.
But I would urge operators to consider taking a lead from the heroic Chotais and stocking Invisible Chips. They’re 0% fat but 100% charity – and with every portion your customers purchase, you’ll be helping hospitality workers whose livelihoods are literally disappearing.
The rising energy bills, food prices and other overheads that proved too much for the Red Cup Café to bear have only just begun to cut their destructive swathe through UK hospitality. And every failing business leaves more people needing the support of Hospitality Action and other charities like us.
Let’s make the Red Cup Café’s closure an inflection point, a moment when the sector collectively steps up to look after its own. Just imagine how many people we could help if thousands of other restaurants, hotels, pubs and bars became Invisible Chips stockists.
As for Reena and Henal, they’ll be volunteering at London’s Community Kitchen as they regroup, take stock and start to plan for the future. Of course they are – they’ve got hearts as big as the borough of Harrow.
One thing’s for sure: we’re here for them if they need our help as they negotiate this bump in the road.
