Have you walked by The Café for The Common Good inside Albany Creek Central after you’ve done your grocery shopping? Did you know that this cafe is a social enterprise that helps fund medical researches at a few hospitals around Brisbane?
For their work in “maximising every donor dollar,” The Café for The Common Good won the ISPT Award for Outstanding Social Enterprise in the 2020 Lord Mayor’s Business Awards.
The cafe serves barista-made Merlo coffee, Lick ice cream and light meals or snacks to take home. Open daily as early as 7 a.m., the small eatery is near the shopping centre’s Woolworths outlet. Most of the cafe’s profits, after operating and administration costs, go into life-saving medical research.
“Last year our cafes collectively did some $800,000 which we turned into nearly $5.2million in medical research,” The Common Good Retail Manager Bryce Liyanage said. “Right here in Brisbane, we have 120 researchers, scientists and biomedical engineers tackling problems like COVID in an ICU setting, and a horrific disease called silicosis that’s affecting our tradies. And we’re so proud of the teams we’re backing – one coffee at a time.”
The Café for The Common Good has three sites within The Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside, and one outlet each the Caboolture Hospital and the Kedron Emergency Services Complex.
The store at Albany Creek Central is the first location outside of the hospital environment. The cafe also provides catering services.
“The Common Good sets itself apart from other charities with our social enterprise model,” Mr Liyanage said. “The profits earned from our cafes cover our operating and administration costs, so that all funds raised go exactly where donors expect them to – into our life-saving medical research.”
“It’s a real honour to receive this award amongst such deserving finalists. We’re really grateful to Site8 at Albany Creek Central who have provided the site, and our suppliers particularly Merlo, who have been so generous.”
Currently, the cafe is supporting researches on COVID-19, heart disease, dementia and silicosis.