He worked in consulting in the city for 3 years (Accenture) and then ventured into the coffee business. One of the co-founders of Black Sheep Coffee Max spun out the wholesale business into a new company which eventually became Redemption Roasters. Redemption Roasters partnered with the Ministry of Justice to launch an industrial-scale coffee roastery and barista academy behind bars. RR now runs a 7500 sqft roastery at HMP The Mount, 11 coffee shops in Central London, has over 200 wholesale clients (offices, restaurants, bars, hotels) and runs two in-custody barista and technician academies where prison residents are taught coffee skills at HMP High Down and HMP Pentonville. On release Redemption provides employment opportunities in one of our eleven shops; prison-leavers are 50% less likely to reoffend if they leave prison with skills and a job.
Highlights
Cold brew is essentially just cold steeped coffee, it’s the most simple form of preparation.
I’ve always liked coffee and thought it was a really interesting product through its heritage.
Both my parents were academics so as far away from entrepreneurs as you can get.
What I did strive for was working with some good mates around a product that we can identify with that we love.
The idea was to change perceptions around taste of coffee and quality of coffee.
Even if there’s a whole team of people running around like crazy for weeks and weeks, but you’ve changed one person’s life for the better, that is all worth it.
Changing someone’s life when they have left prison is not easy, it needs a lot of intervention.
We can all do something small, good, every day.
The moment those doors close behind you, you feel you are in this contained space where your liberty has been taken away from you.
If you give people a chance, if you give them meaningful activity, you give them skills and you help them into a job that will drastically reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.