Although the idea of a social enterprise is quite new to consumers today, Sally Irwin has been working in
this space for well over a decade. Whilst her expertise and professional experience have seen her rise to
senior positions within various retailers, a passion for the greater good was discovered whilst living in
Berlin in 2008 when she was confronted with the plight of women involved in human trafficking. She
quickly set up a charity in Berlin to fund the support of the victims and used a café as the vehicle to raise
funds and awareness to help fight this cause (The Freedom Hub, 2016).
Upon returning to Australia in 2012, she quickly discovered that the problem of human trafficking was
not isolated to Eastern Europe and that it had also become a serious problem in Australia. According to
the Global Slavery Index, there are approximately 3000 people living as slaves in Australia as a result of
the human trafficking (Aubusson, 2015). Irwin volunteered for the Salvation Army’s Trafficking and
Slavery Safe House where she helped victims re-join the workforce through engagement in training and
a network of members of the Stop Traffik Australia Coalition.
In March 2013, the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Slavery, Slavery-like Conditions and People
Trafficking) Act 2013 expanded the definition beyond sexual slavery to include forced marriage, organ
trafficking, and the broader offence of servitude. Unfortunately little assistance is available to the
victims, usually women, who do manage to escape. The Freedom Hub offers these women one-on-one
mentoring, courses in English, and employment skills, as well as support to combat the insecurities and
emotional scarring resulting from their abuse and treatment.
In 2014 Irwin launched the Freedom Hub Survivor School and in 2015, replicated the program she
helped pioneer in Berlin by launching the Freedom Hub café which would again work as a vehicle to
support the cause of rescuing, re-training, and re-deploying victims of human trafficking in to the work
force.
The Freedom Hub café is located at 283 Young St, Waterloo NSW 2017 and is open to the general public
from Monday through to Friday from 6:30am – 3:00pm daily. Whilst the idea of the café is to raise funds
for supporting the victims they’re engaged with, it also works as model of best practice in terms of
aligning values with its practices. All of the products used within the café are sourced from ethical
producers and suppliers. The coffee beans for example are sourced from an organization known as the
Freedom Fighter. Freedom Fighter coffee is grown and harvested in remote villages in Africa who
employ and rehabilitate children who have been rescued from being child soldiers. The coffee is then
roasted here in Australia and can be bought for consumption within the café or at home (The Freedom
Hub, 2016)
For social betterment causes such as raising awareness and empowering survivors of human trafficking
in Australia the Freedom Hub have designed buyable products through the café to motivate a purchase
that aligns to the values of the organization to produce profits that serve their social cause. At the same
time the Freedom Hub is providing people with an opportunity to spend knowing that they can
contribute to improving the life of others and in to-days society consumers are conscious about where
and how they spend their money.
3 | P a g e
Irwin has made a conscious decision to not apply for any Federal or State Government subsidies, grants
or funds despite her setting up and running a charitable organization. Whilst government funding would
help expedite her social cause, Irwin feels that it is essential her organization is fully sustainable and can
self-fund rather than relying government funding and support

 

 

Posing as the manager of the Freedom Hub café, you are required to present a
business report in which they analyse the 3 dining concepts provided in the case study

 

 

 

Write a report addressing the following:
 An analysis of the proposed service styles and the potential impacts on the café
should the service style change on customer service;

 

 Presentation of a financial comparison of the 3 options utilising commonly used food
and beverage ratios (Food and Beverage Cost %, Wage Cost %, Gross Margin, Net
Profit Ratio) to make appropriate comparisons;

 

 

 Recommendation in to how (if at all) the proposed concepts align with current and
future trends within the food and beverage industry. Evidence substantiating your
position on this must also be presented.