A Bradford cafe, which takes pride in serving a ‘slice of charity’ with every order, is celebrating one year in business as it continues to give back to the community.
Launched in December last year by the well-established charity, QED-uk, to mark 25 years of operations, Rakkaposhi is a luxury coffee and dessert parlour located on Ebenezer Street.
Set-up as a way of creating an extra revenue channel for the charity, the business is a long-term project which donates all of its profits to the charity.
Founder and chief executive of QED-uk, Mohammed Ali, explained how the cafe had been a huge success in its first year, already exceeding its targets for 2018.
“I think the first year for us, as with any business, has been a learning curve,” he said. “We have learned a lot over the past 12 months, creating six or seven jobs in the process.
“Although we have not yet made a profit, we have broken even. It’s something we didn’t expect to achieve until the end of our third year.
“This means that from next year, more funding will be created via Rakkaposhi thanks to our customers and hard working staff.”
With government cuts to funding for charities throughout the UK, Mohammed adds that the cafe is more vital to the community than it was one year ago.
He added: “It is of course a different kind of venture for us but it is one which will help us in our day-to-day work.
“We are used to training people, helping them to get into employment. The plan for Rakkaposhi is to hopefully generate more income for us to utilise in the charity side of work and help us rely less on donations and grants from the public sector. It will ultimately make us more self-sufficient.”
Working with disadvantaged communities across Bradford and internationally, QED-uk aims to improve economic, social and disadvantaged lives of local residents.
Rakkaposhi serves up a range of luxury handmade desserts and organic premium coffee seven days a week.
Open from 2pm till 10pm Monday – Thursday (2pm – midnight on Fridays and Saturdays) and 4pm till 10pm on Sunday, the cafe is in a prime position located near The Broadway Shopping Centre and the Leisure Exchange.
