Norman Pickavance, Chair of Create said,  “Create has done a lot of good work in helping over 500 disadvantaged people in Yorkshire over recent years, however we have found it very difficult in these tough economic times and have been looking for people to invest in Create since the end of 2011. This process has taken far longer than anyone would have liked, but I am pleased that Create now has the financial support it needs to help it move forward and continue with its good work. This plan is a life line and the best chance Create has to keep going”.

Mr Syddall said “I invested in Create last year because I was impressed by the work that Create has done in helping disadvantaged people in the community, and I am pleased to be able to continue to do so”.

As a result of this change of control the Create Board are stepping down to give Mr Syddall the scope to restructure the operation. Create will continue to focus on its work in helping disadvantaged people in the Yorkshire area, through its café operation in Wakefield and through a plan to restructure its restaurant on King Street to become a Community Learning Hub.

Sarah Dunwell who is stepping down as CEO, said, “Create has done a lot of good things to help disadvantaged people in Yorkshire, and produce some really great food along the way. The past six years have been an amazing experience for Create and I would like to thank my team and the people of Leeds for all their support. I wish Ged and the new team well.”

Over the six years we have experimented with lots of different types of work environments which have provided people with the experience they needed to get a hand up into work. We have run a cleaning company, a retro boutique, made cosmetics and run a catering business. However to most people we have become best known for our restaurant and cafés and have won awards for the quality of the food we have made.

However throughout this journey our passion has remained the same, helping the hardest to reach people in our community, and with your support we have managed to support over 500 people.

However we are not a charity. As a social enterprise we pay the same commercial rents as any other restaurant chain and but have had higher costs because of the extra support work we do. So in today’s harsh economy we have had to look really hard at how we can continue helping the maximum number of people whilst dealing with some tough commercial realities.

You will be pleased to hear that we have come up with a plan which involves refurbishing some of our space and carrying out a restructuring of our operations. Unfortunately this means we need to close the restaurant whilst we complete the work.

We will keep you posted on how the work is going, on our web site, and you can still visit us at our Wakefield Café, located at the heart of the new public space in the centre of town.

In the mean time we would like to thank you for all your continued support and the massive help this has given to those who need it most along the way.

“I always believed that it was possible to deliver great food and service and to make a positive difference to society. I always believed that was the best way to do business” says Sarah Dunwell CEO of Create.

Richard Walton-Allen, Executive Chef at Create, joined the company over a year ago from Harvey Nichols because he shared that passion. “It is great to have won this award and to have been listed in the Good Food Guide and the Michelin Guide, within a year of opening the Leeds restaurant. To me it proves that you can still deliver great quality British food and fantastic service as well and supporting and training hundreds of people back to work.”

Pastry chef Claire Burton has just finished lunch service at Create Leeds’s King Street restaurant. She’s walking on air after a diner tweeted a picture of her triple chocolate brownie, with the caption: “the best dessert I’ve eaten”. “It makes you feel sort of floaty,” she says.

Life was not always this way. Eighteen months ago she returned from living abroad with a teenage son, was ineligible for benefits and seemingly unemployable. “I had no friends, no money, nowhere to live.” A social worker introduced her to Create Leeds. “As soon as I began the 12-week course here, the clouds lifted,” she says.

The course is the backbone of Create. Five years ago, founder Sarah Dunwell was running her own catering firm and volunteering at a local shelter. She sold up and ploughed the funds into a new business, one that offers hands-on training to the homeless. Create was born.

“The kitchen is a fabulous work experience environment,” she says. “It’s hierarchical and the output is immediate so you know how well you’ve performed.” Then there’s the sense of camaraderie. “Sometimes we’re dealing with third generation homeless. People who have no idea what work feels like. We show them, then we say: ‘Right, you’re not an addict, you’re not homeless, you’re not a criminal. What do you want to be?’”

Find the full story on the Observer website here or, if you’re in Leeds, come and find out for yourself here.

In the unique “language” of the Michelin Guide, the Bib symbols indicate the inspectors’ favourite establishments, offering high-quality products and services and good value for the money.

For even though the Michelin Guide is known and recognised for its “star” system, these restaurants represent only 5% of the selection, the rest of which is comprised of good, small, affordably priced establishments.

A total of 38 establishments have won a new Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide 2013, including Adam Byatt’s Bistro Union in Clapham Common, London, the White Oak in Cookham and the Apple Tree Inn in West Pennard Somerset.

Those unfortunate businesses that lost their Bib Gourmand status include the Hoste Arms in Norfolk, the Gonger Fox in Henfield, West Sussex, and Dehesa in Soho.

In total 137 restaurants retained or were awarded Bib Gourmand status. They include Rick Stein’s Cafe in Padstow, Stravaigin in Glasgow and the Fox and Grapes in Wimbledon.

Bib Gourmands are awarded to establishments that offer good food at a moderate price.

For the full story see here…

The Yorkshire Life panel of expert judges was led by Annie Stirk, their food and drink consultant and the panel decided on some of the most coveted awards for food and hospitality excellence in the region. Yorkshire Life said “we are mindful of the difficult economic challenges we all face and the support for the talent and innovation that help to make Yorkshire a serious food and drink destination is more important than every before.”

In the same month that Create’s restaurant in Leeds celebrated its first birthday, the team were delighted to be winners of the coveted Newcomer of the Year Category. In the wake of great regional and national reviews Create also celebrated being not only listed in the Good Food Guide but being awarded the Editor’s award for the UKs Best Value for Money restaurant.

Edward Lee, Head Chef at Create said, “this is a fabulous celebration of all that is special about Yorkshire regional food. For us great food and great people matter and it is wonderful to be recognised as champions for the great food in this region.”

Sarah Dunwell, founder and Chief Executive at Create added, “Create is about doing business for the very best reasons, using everything at our disposal to run a business that transforms lives and adds value to communities. But all of this only matters if it is underpinned by a business that people really believe in. Winning this award recognises that business really can be a force for social good.”

Full details of all the awards can be found at here, well done to all the winners from the team at Create.

Along with six other locations in the Yorkshire region, Create in Leeds was praised by Consultant Editor, Elizabeth Carter. “Create aims to help people back into work. It was opened by a social enterprise outside-catering company with Richard Walton-Allen, former executive chef at Harvey Nichols, Leeds, at the helm. He has shaped a colourful contemporary restaurant – a big city eatery that is genuinely user-friendly – with a strong, seasonally changing menu delivering an appetising menu of earthy seasonal dishes at very reasonable prices.”

On hearing the news today Sarah Dunwell, Create’s founder and CEO said, “Five years ago I had a burning passion that delivering a great business with great food and customer service should not only make money but also add value to peoples’ lives. We are delighted that entry into The Good Food Guide has recognised the achievement of this vision.”

Create in Leeds, a social enterprise with the aim of helping people back into work, has also been awarded a special Editors’ Award as Best Value for Money restaurant in The Good Food Guide 2013.

Richard Walton Allen, Create’s Executive Chef added, “for the team at Create, ‘where good food and people matter’ is not just a slogan it is the mantra we live and die by. We believe our business adds value to the lives of the most disadvantaged and also to the communities in which we work. It is great to be recognized as the best value for money in 2013 too!”

Create has welcomed over 300 homeless and disadvantaged people into its Academy in the last couple of years and now operates in Leeds, Manchester and Sunderland. The Award winning restaurant is at 31 King Street in Leeds and details can be found here.

Eateries in Yorkshire who have secured a coveted ‘new entry’ spot in The Good Food Guide 2013 are:

Eric’s in Huddersfield which is praised for having ‘quality built into every element’; T&Cake, also in Huddersfield; City Café at Double Tree by Hilton in Leeds, described as a ‘stylish eatery with unique taste sensations’; Create in Leeds where the ‘colourful, contemporary restaurant’ impressed; Talbot Hotel in Malton which is lauded for its ‘flair and care’; The Star @ Sancton which has ‘appealingly local menus and sound cooking’ and The Woodlands Cafébar in Whitby, a ‘charming eatery by the sea’.

“As a social enterprise we never stand still, we are always looking at emerging food trends and to source the best seasonal produce as well as creating opportunities to coach those on our academy to success”, says Sarah Dunwell, Create’s founder and CEO.

This summer, Create has taken to the road and the team has used their passion for local produce, the chef’s skill in the kitchen and their trainee’s ambition to great effect.  Richard Allen, Executive Chef at Create said, “There is no doubt that street food and pop up restaurants are very much on trend in the UK at the moment.  From Create’s point of view this is a win, win.  We can deliver great products and service and work with partners in areas we don’t usually cover, to offer opportunities to trainees on our academy programme.

Create has recently delivered street food at the Hyde Park Unity Festival, a charity fundraising day in Harrogate and at DIG The City in Manchester.  As well as street food, Create has delivered a pop up restaurant as part of the EAT Festival in NewcastleGasteshead in partnership with the Cyrenians, and then enjoyed a month long stay as the caterer on site at the York Mystery Plays, in Museum Garden, York.

Sarah added, “We have lots of plans for street food and pop ups in interesting locations over the next few months and are excited about the opportunities that gives to people from homeless and excluded backgrounds to experience current trends in a great food and hospitality business.”

Sarah is the founder and Chief Executive of the social enterprise in Leeds which helps long-term unemployed people get back into work. Growing up in Beeston, Leeds, Sarah was immersed in a diverse culture from an early age and began her working life as a customer service manager for BT and then for Everest, before leaving to start a catering business with her parents.

Sarah commented: “I founded Create because I believed that I could run a successful business whilst also giving vulnerable people the chance to get and hand-up and not a hand out. It is a tremendous honour to be here today, to be recognised in this way, and to see that my dream resonates so loudly in this city.”

Read the full story here or view the images of the day here.

As part of the EAT NewcastleGateshead festival Create have teamed up with The Cyrenians to offer a unique dining event. Create believe that good food and people matter and this pop up restaurant will be the hallmark of that. Using the best in local food and talent, included those drawn from some of the most exclude groups in the city, the Cyrenians and Create will offer a great British menu from a business that believes that life is about more than profit.

For three days, the elegant Elliott House, a Cyrenian home for the city’s homeless, turns into a pop-up restaurant. Food is prepared and served by the residents together with staff from Create, a Sunderland-based catering social enterprise that gives opportunities to the homeless and unemployed. Find out more about EAT here and more about Create and the Cyrenians too, or come along and taste the food at…

Elliott House, 4 Bentinck Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 6US.

Just two days before the London 2012 opening ceremony, Olympic torch designer Edward Barber, a former student, will be honoured by Leeds Met for his significant contribution to the arts.  Sarah Dunwell, founder and CEO of the award-winning Create Foundation, a social enterprise in Leeds which helps long-term unemployed people get back into work will also receive an honorary degree, alongside Mumtaz Kahn Akbar, the founder and owner of the Mumtaz Food Group.

Other dignitaries that will receive awards include Huddersfield Town chairman Dean Hoyle, Harry Potter and The Syndicate star Matthew Lewis, Red or Dead designer Wayne Hemmingway and England rugby union head coach, Stuart Lancaster, who will be awarded an honorary docorate in Sport.  Completing the list of honorary awards are Colin Harrop, Pam Warhurst and The Guardian’s Northern Editor Martin Wainwright.

The graduation celebrations will take place at the University’s Headingley Campus from Monday 23 to Friday 27 July, where over 5,000 students will graduate over five days, alongside the ten honorary degree recipients.

Sarah commented, “It is great to be ranked among this amazing group of people. When we founded Create, we just wanted to make a difference to people’s lives, to offer great food and service and opportunities for people to transform their lives. To be recognised for this here in my own city is a great honour.”

Read the full article here.