“Other Countries Have Had Brilliant Success Eliminating Rough Sleeping – We Think the Same Is Possible Here in Scotland”: Our Q&A With Social Bite, Scotland Food & Drink’s Charity of the Year

Founded in Edinburgh in 2012, Social Bite is a charity and social enterprise on a mission to end homelessness in the UK.

Through pioneering programmes, the organisation supports people experiencing homelessness, and with food at the heart of its operations, it is now one of UK’s largest providers of free, freshly-made food to people in need. It provides more than 255,000 food items and hot drinks on average each year through its network of coffee shops, alongside a range of other innovative projects.

As Scotland Food & Drink’s Charity of the Year for 2026/27, here, we learn a little more about the history of Social Bite, its goals for the future, and how businesses across the food and drink industry can support its work.

What is the story behind Social Bite – how did the charity start and what has driven its evolution over the years?

Social Bite began as a little coffee shop on Rose Street, Edinburgh, in 2012. It was set up as a social business by Josh Littlejohn and Alice Thompson, with the idea that the profits would go back to local good causes. We weren’t originally anything to do with homelessness specifically.

After a couple of weeks of being open, a young man called Peter, who was experiencing homelessness and had been selling The Big Issue outside, plucked up the courage to come in and ask for a job.

Seeing the impact stable employment had on Peter’s life convinced our co-founders to embed supported employment for people with experience of homelessness into the heart of the business. We started to offer more jobs to people experiencing homelessness as we became more engaged in the issue. Alice and Josh were hearing their stories about how they become homeless and their experience being homeless and became very passionate about wanting to do more to help.

Hearing experiences of difficulty accessing food inspired Social Bite to start the ‘Pay It Forward’ system. When the customers came in to buy their breakfast or lunch, they would be invited to make a donation to buy an extra sandwich or an extra coffee, which would go to somebody who was homeless and in need.

We also heard from our new colleagues about substandard temporary accommodation – rooms with mould and beg bugs, extremely limited kitchen facilities, where pets are not allowed and people can be trapped for years. This shaped our Social Bite Village project, providing a dignified and high-quality accommodation with wraparound trauma-informed support. Seeing the transformative impact that rewarding employment had for the team shaped our Jobs First programme.

Dignity and lived experience sit at the heart of our work at Social Bite, and shape what we do. Today, 14 years on, we've grown into an organisation delivering UK-wide impact for people who are vulnerable or experiencing homelessness. All of our innovative projects centre around our core pillars of food, homes and jobs – each underpinned with support.

What is Social Bite’s overall mission, and how has your approach to achieving your goals changed?

Social Bite is on a mission to end homelessness. We are a charity and social business providing homes, jobs, food, and support to empower people to transform their own lives. Our vision is a society where no one should have to be homeless.

Our approach to achieving our goals has always been with an entrepreneurial spirit and focused on challenging the status quo by pioneering solutions that create lasting change.

We’ve had a stage of pioneering new solutions – like our Jobs First employment programme and our Social Bite Village model – and now we’re at the exciting new stage of scaling these up. This is our ambition!

We’ve published our Village Franchise Model, showing how Social Bite Villages could be built all over the UK, and we are expanding our Jobs First programme by partnering further with employers. We distribute hot meals, ingredients packs, essential items and supported accommodation in partnership with more than 300 towns, cities and boroughs through a network of local organisations and grassroots community partners.

Cooperation – with organisations, councils, and people to make significant change happen – is central to the expansion of our services and delivering impact to those most in need. We talk about being a movement to end homelessness, and people join the movement in lots of different ways every day.

From ‘pay it forward’ meals to Sleep in the Park and the Social Bite Village, Social Bite has been at the forefront of many innovative initiatives – which do you believe have been the most impactful?

All our projects are so interlinked and connected to each other, so it is really hard to say! For the support we deliver, we often say it starts with a meal – a meal and a supportive conversation at one of our Social Bite coffee shop services can be the beginning of so much change for someone, whether it goes from there to a Jobs First role, a place at the Village, reuniting with family or building confidence. It is hard to say what is the most impactful, whether it’s a warm meal or a safe place to call home in the Village, as it depends so much on the individual person.

Sometimes things can be so different and the real cornerstone of what we do is tailoring the support we offer to the individual and their circumstances. The real impact is that people who are vulnerable are able to achieve their goals.

The likes of George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, and the Princess of Wales have all supported Social Bite – can you tell us a little bit about the work that goes into securing support from such recognisable names? And do you have any dream names in mind for future collaborations?

Securing support from celebrities and figures, like those mention above, is often the result of months of work from the team, but it is all worth it for the incredible impact that can be achieved by someone lending their star power to shine on the issue of homelessness.

A mix of outreach and collaboration – and a wee bit of being in the right place at the right time sometimes – is often the key, and the celebrity being genuinely interested in the work going on is important. For dream future collaborations, we don’t have anyone specific in mind right now – but welcoming George Clooney back earlier this year, 10 years after his original visit in 2015 that helped put Social Bite on the map, was certainly very special!

Looking ahead, what are Social Bite's goals and plans for the next five years and beyond?

It feels like we’re at an exciting point of stepping up our work to a bigger level, especially with the Village projects. With the Franchise Model for Villages now live, we would love to see more Village built all over the UK. We welcomed the recent announcement from the Scottish Government pledging £2 million towards building Social Bite Villages across Scotland, which is very exciting.

Celebrating the positive impact of five years of our Jobs First programme (and 150 employees experiencing the programme) and linking employment success into possible policy change are key focuses of ours currently, too.

For beyond the next five years, we want to end homelessness. Other countries have had brilliant success with eliminating rough sleeping and having great support infrastructure in place, and we think the same is possible here in Scotland, and across the UK. That’s why we’re engaging in policy work with local and national governments, to bring our expertise in homes and jobs to more people.

How can individuals and businesses within the food and drink industry help support your work?

People can make a real difference through fundraising, volunteering and raising awareness. From buying your daily coffee in your local Social Bite or ordering your team in-office lunch, running a marathon altogether to volunteering a few hours of your time and sponsoring the build of a Nest House in a Social Bite Village, support at all scales makes a real and tangible life-changing difference. Whether it’s a £5 individual donation going towards providing a hot meal with a supportive conversation for someone at one of our services, or choosing us as your company’s charity of the year, check out our website for a whole range of ways to get involved!

Visit social-bite.co.uk