Learning disability staff to run new cafe in Balby

A new pop-up cafe in Balby run by people with learning disabilities will be launched later this month.
The Platform teamThe Platform team
The Platform team

The Platform in Woodfield Road, is set to open on April 25 and will be developed and staffed entirely by service users from Quarryfields, a home for individuals with learning disabilities next-door.

Exemplar Health Care, a provider which owns 25 nursing homes including Quarryfields, purchased the former sandwich shop and the team set about transforming it inside and out.

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From barista training at Frazer’s Coffee Roasters in Sheffield, who taught the team how to make the perfect coffee, to budgeting, interior design, and training in health and safety and food hygiene, The Platform team have worked hard to develop all the skills they need to launch their new venture.

The team from the Quarryfields Education Group, have worked tirelessly over the past year to create an innovative new destination in Balby.

Chief executive officer at Exemplar Health Care, Euan Craig, said: “It’s great to be part of such fantastic project and to get in to the community and to be involved. Today has been a great example of rising to challenges - everyone has risen to the baking challenges today and it is great to be a part of that.

“The Platform Quarryfields project is a fantastic example of what we want all of our homes to be doing in the future. Projects like these are examples of how Exemplar as a company are really forward thinking and wanting to go to extra lengths for our service users.”

Director of Referrals and business development, Amanda Lighton, said she had followed the project from the start and added: “It has been fantastic to see how it has transformed.”