Introducing the coffee shop that hopes to give homeless people a 'second shot'

Among the trendy bars, pop-up restaurants and, yes, even cereal cafes, in London's hip East End, one social entrepreneur is hoping to open a coffee shop with a difference.

Julius Ibrahim, a final year student at UCL, is preparing for the launch of 'Second Shot' - a cafe that will not only serve great coffee, but also help London's homeless population find work.

“From the customer’s perspective we just want it to be a really strong independent café that serves really great coffee," Ibrahim explained to i100.co.uk. "But then also we do this really cool social impact stuff as well.”

Ibrahim is hoping to raise £75,000 through an IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign but is also in talks with other investors.

The idea is to make Second Shot "sustainable and scale-able" so that more shops can open in future and its impact can spread.

I think what’s important to me and the reason why I’m doing it is to have that social impact.

Whatever it is that we end up doing will be having that in the forefront of my mind and trying to make sure that it can make a big difference to homelessness in London.

• Julius Ibrahim, speaking to i100.co.uk

If the fundraising campaign is successful then Ibrahim is hoping to open the first shop at a premises in the Old Street or Hoxton area in December.

Three baristas from backgrounds of homelessness will be hired on a full-time basis every six months through jobs programmes at charities like Crisis and St Martins.

At the end of the six months, in which all staff will be paid the London living wage, the baristas will move on and be replaced by three more homeless people.

They may not necessarily come from hospitality and they may not want to work in hospitality in the long-term so it will be our mission and our commitment to our staff that we will help them transition back into whatever it is they want to do [at the end of the six months].

• Julius Ibrahim, speaking to i100.co.uk

Another initiative will include customers being able to pre-pay for food and drink and leaving their order on a post-it note on the wall so someone in need later on can use it.

Unsold food will also be handed out at the end of the day with the cafe turning into a "hub for homelessness".

You can donate to the fundraising campaign here and head to the Second Shot website here. In the meantime, check out the campaign video below:

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