Ideas for community wellbeing cafe

[spottybaghottyhag]

I'm starting a wellbeing cafe in a local community centre for women just to drop into. There's a coffee machine, nice herbal teas. Space for a table and I thought to get a nice tablecloth and put some votive candles to give a bit of atmosphere. Many some essential oils in a burner. Any ideas on things to do/have there? It needs to be fairly low cost as this is a free initiative with no funding.

Flowers on the tables, we have artificial ones which looks nice and are cheap. A selection of art and craft materials, jigsaws, board games, books, conversation starter cards.
"Places of welcome" has lots of ideas, as does "renew wellbeing" which is a Christian based organisation but you could just use a few of the more secular ideas.
Have you looked into funding? These sorts of projects are fairly low cost, but do have some costs such as room hire, refreshments etc and funders are often quite interested in projects like this.

If you have space a kids table and toy box. A lot of women who need a break have kids in tow and child friendly places that do not cost an arm and a leg are rare.

Bookshelf for a book swap?

Information about various classes groups & support groups. (For women and children.. even male mental health as well actually to support them supporting partners).

I'd be surprised if you were allowed to have candles and an oil burner in a public building. 😬 Have you done a risk assessment?

Loving all the suggestions, thank you. We are well sorted for toys as there's a crèche running on different days, so that's covered. In theory we could apply for funding, will look into that. Hadn't thought about the candles issue, there has been incense before, but will check that out.

I wouldn't have candles and oil burners if you're hoping for women to drop in with their children.

You can get rechargable fake tea lights, they look great in a nice sturdy glass holder.

a table cloth will make you work if things get spilt on it, much easier to wipe a table down between use!

A few suggestions based on a community cafe in our area:
Some play space for children
Bookshelf for book swap
'Pay it forward' option - people can donate the cost of a cup of tea or coffee for those who can't afford it
Fairy lights or battery tea lights (but make sure they can't easily be opened by children)
Laminated cards for the table - "Happy to chat" or "Happy on my own" so that if people would like to talk they can, and if not, they can be left alone
A noticeboard or similar advertising help & support services, and if room, another where people can advertise their own businesses
A comfortable chair for breastfeeding
Tampons, pads, nappies available in the toilet

As others have said arts/crafts stuff would be good, but that may depend on how much mess and tidying you're willing to cope with

Our local also has free drop-in advice sessions
Occasional free hand/arm/head massages

Have you let the council know that you are going to be running a cafe area. You will need to register with them, and get a hygiene rating.

Also, does your building insurance cover this? Also, your public liability insurance. I assume your volunteers are already covered by the community centre's insurance, but you will need to check that.

Loyalty card.
Squash for children.
Music (on low)
nice crockery. Doesn’t need to match.
wifi
colourful environment - I presume this is out of your control, but a pull up banner explaining the purpose of the cafe could be made to look warm and inviting.
definitely look at funding - your local CVS will be able to help you source some which will help your setup costs. This sounds a fabulous project that will be attractive to funders.

Music (on low)

Can't do that without paying hundreds of pounds per year for a PPL PRS background music licence.

Is there a commercial kitchen in the building, OP? ie, that has a basin and a sink in it.

Yes there's a kitchen in the centre. This will be free, but donations in a pot welcome, but no expectation. Baked goods will be very simple, probably bought croissants/traybakes from a supermarket. It's very small scale in a local area, and will run only for a few hours once or twice a week. It's basically a free, warm place for people to come if they wish.

Baked goods will be very simple, probably bought croissants/traybakes from a supermarket. It's very small scale in a local area, and will run only for a few hours once or twice a week.

You'll still need to register as a food business, OP, and follow hygiene regulations. You need to register 28 days before you start trading IIRC, and they'll come and inspect you.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/food-business-registration

You (and any volunteers) will need to follow the Safer Food Better Business guidelines. You, and volunteers, will need to be aware of allergen rules, for instance. Whatever you sell, you must have a full ingredients list for, following the allergen matrix.

So, for instance, if one day somebody buys the almond croissants instead of the plain croissants, and that isn't noted - not good.

https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/safer-food-better-business-sfbb

It's worth asking if your council offers warm/welcome space funding. We get £900 twice a year to run our warm/welcome space which is very similar to what you are planning.
I would look at registering with Places of Welcome as they have loads of useful resources and information on their website with regards to food safety etc.

There isn't anything for sale. As I said, it's all free, there will be a container of anyone wants to donate but IME donations will be the exception rather than the rule.

A sign on tables where people can sit if they want to chat to others to encourage people to sit together and a separate sign on table for those wanting to sit on their own.

Do you have a lot of space? If you have room for a couple of rails you could ask friends for donations or declutter your home and either let people take them or have a tin for “pay as you feel”

Our local one has a gardening group (more along the lines of education and growing your own fruits and vegetables) and craft groups in there sometimes, both of which seem popular.

A community well-being hub where I grew up has something on every day, from an Andy's Man Club-type group, weekly dinners for pensioners (anything for a social outing!), Christmas plays and events, charity events, and sometimes things to do with U3A. There's always something going on there!

Oracle cards? Just nature ones.

It doesn't matter if it's not for sale, OP. If you are providing food on a regular basis then you need to register with your local council as a food business. And you, and your volunteers, will need to follow the hygiene regs. (This is to be benefit of the people you are providing food for.)

Also, OP, have you thought about the implication of providing free food? Once it gets more widely publicised?

https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/food-safety-for-community-cooking-and-food-banks

I definitely wouldn’t do anything involving fire. Be careful about all the rules about providing food - it’s a minefield.

I would have toys, colouring etc, a bookshelf with kid and adult books, various flyers etc about local initiatives and maybe try to partner up with a local no waste group to have an area of ‘take what you need’ items.

It sounds lovely, OP, but how are you going to enforce the women only bit if any males want to come in?

Yes I was about to ask that. How are you defining "woman", OP? And how are you going to turn away any men who acknowledge they are men from the free food and coffee?