Business is ‘booming’ for popular cafe offering vital experiences to young adults with special educational needs

Business is “booming” for a popular Northampton cafe, which offers vital experiences to young adults with special educational needs.

The Place To Bee, in Harborough Road, is a cafe and old-fashioned sweetshop associated with Northgate School Academy Trust and The Beehive.

Run by Trudi Daurie, students are welcomed to work in the cafe – which gives them experience they might not otherwise gain to help them excel in the working world.

When asked how the last six months have been for the business, Trudi said: “We’ve been really busy and our students have gone from strength to strength.”

One positive change since Trudi last spoke to the Chronicle & Echo is that The Place To Bee now works alongside The Lewis Foundation, to provide additional work experience in their outlet shop in the town centre.

Trudi says the important real-world experience, which has come as a result of that collaboration, is the cafe’s proudest achievement of 2023.

This is in addition to partnering with Steve Reid and his new Milton Keynes based farm shop, The Artisan Collective.

Though they already had a mutual collaboration that The Place To Bee provided Steve with their sweets and they utilised his chutneys, this has been taken to the next level.

Alongside a job coach, the students began visiting The Artisan Collective every Monday to sell The Place To Bee’s sweets themselves – giving them another amazing opportunity to learn about retail.

“The cafe is booming and thriving,” said Trudi. “We’re having to turn people away. They know we’re here now and we have a solid following.

“We’re happy with how it’s going and the students are working amazingly hard to hit targets and goals. Everyone is settled and in the groove, and it’s a happy place to work. We’re very grateful for the community support.”

Despite a setback in November when the cafe was broken into, the team has done everything they can to improve their security measures and recover what they lost.

When asked just how much of a positive difference the cafe makes to the students who work there, Trudi said: “It makes them feel valued and allows them to learn new skills. People come in and appreciate what they do.”

She proudly shared that the students are often praised for being “lovely, polite and so happy” by returning customers.

Looking to 2024, The Place To Bee hopes to continue collaborating and building partnerships with more businesses to offer further work experience opportunities.

Another “exciting” development is that they are currently fundraising for a sweet delivery vehicle, which will allow the students an enhanced experience of delivering sweets to the places that stock them.

The Place To Bee’s sweets are currently sold at 20 different locations and with a “mini sweet shop on wheels”, they would be able to attend events too.

“It’s about getting the students out and about,” said Trudi, who also wants to continue building on the qualifications they offer students and nurturing the “positive learning environment”.

For more information and to keep up to date with The Place To Bee, visit their Facebook page here.