Located on Great Suffolk Street, the site uses what it says is the UK hospitality industry’s first live impact dashboard powered by global payments platform Square.
Old Spike’s central mission is to create employment for people experiencing homelessness. Its Barista Training and Employment Programme provides practical training, paid work placements and support into lasting work. Since opening in 2015, more than 350 people have completed its training course.
The dashboard uses Square data to display to customers how their purchases across Old Spike’s seven cafés contribute to its training and paid work placement programme. Southwark is the first café to feature the dashboard, which Old Spike plans to roll out across all its sites.
When a purchase is made, Square automatically sends the information to the Impact Dashboard system, which records the transaction and calculates the relevant impact measures and KPIs. These figures are then turned into visuals via an animation application so they can be displayed on public-facing screens.
The dashboard showcases the number of trainees completing the programme, graduates securing lasting employment and the amount paid during work placements.
“Old Spike was founded to do two things: roast exceptional coffee and create real paths into employment for people experiencing homelessness,” says Richard Robinson, CEO of Old Spike.
“Our dashboard shows customers in real-time how their purchases make a difference to people’s lives. They are directly contributing to training, paid work placements and lasting employment. Our coffee works harder because the better we perform as a coffee business, the more employment opportunities we can create.”
John O’Beirne, CEO of Square International, adds: “Old Spike’s mission to help those experiencing homelessness move into stable, long-term employment is inspirational. We’re proud to help them use Square transaction data in a powerful way to tell their story, and demonstrate how every single purchase is contributing to helping change people’s lives.”
Alongside its seven cafés, Old Spike roasts specialty coffee at its Brixton roastery, supplies wholesale partners across the UK and delivers coffee to customers through its online subscription service.