Way back in 2001 Alan Lugton was employed to set up a new project helping disadvantaged and disabled people gain life skills. In 2010, that project, Nourish, has become one of the biggest success stories of social enterprise and sustainable food production in Brighton and Hove.

Nourish began life at Care Co-ops, a community interest company supporting social enterprises and helping minimise social exclusion.

Alan says: “It was borne out of a need to offer disadvantaged adults a route for progression in their learning as well as providing a more realistic environment to learn in. We started small and focused on catering training as the basic concept. Back then I was a catering manager in my chef whites running a small cafe with five or six trainees. Nowadays they call me Chief Executive and my role is mainly strategic, looking at areas of growth for Nourish as well as maintaining the general administration of the company.”

Those handful of trainees have grown to 17 staff over four sites, including nearly eight acres of land at Stanmer Park which provides food for the Nourish cafe at the East Brighton Community Mental Health Centre and their catering business.

The community farm grows the standard haul of fruit and vegetables, and is split up into a growing field, a woodland, a garden and sales yard. Each part of the food growing, preparation, menu planning and customer service provides an opportunity for disadvantaged adults to learn, and often counts towards a vocational qualification.

From the beginning, Alan was clear as to how the financial aspect of this venture should be organised. A revolutionary idea at the time, he insisted Nourish was not to rely on funding but to have paying customers – at the cafe and catering clients – who would ensure the enterprise can weather even the current financial storm. He says: “When I first started, the idea of running the organisation in such a way that it made profit was seen as capitalistic and wrong. I didn’t believe this. I saw many third-sector organisations in real trouble because their funding was about to run out. Our model of running a business made sense to me and we stuck with it – soon enough the term social enterprise started getting used and suddenly we were not only acceptable but an example of best practice.”

He was also adamant about the way people should be treated. With a background in catering and hospitality, Alan says his time as a trainee chef showed him how badly staff were often treated. “Sometimes even cruelly,” he says. “I never understood why that was. In my mind people are the most valuable asset a business has and should be treated fairly and with respect.”

It’s a view that swayed his career choices and ultimately led him to Nourish, a job that nearly ten years later still gives great satisfaction. He says: “The expressions on trainees’ faces when they have just made something for the first time – whether it be bread or a fancy cake – it’s always that same look of awe and delight that they have created something that people can enjoy. For some of our trainees who have had a particularly rough time this can be a life-changing moment. It never gets old.”

*Visit www.nourishcic.co.uk