There are cafes,
bars and restaurants around the world which don't just exist to serve up food and drink,
they're trying to rebuild lives.
So then we're giving them the most gorgeous cinnamon bun and the customer's saying thank you so much.
That might be the first positive interaction that a young person's had with the general public,
ever.
In this episode of The Food Chain from the BBC World Service with me, Ruth Alexander,
we're going to be talking to the businesses offering former offenders and people who've struggled with addiction a fresh start.
She says, you know, we have to do this.
And I was like, you mean employ people with a past?
She says, yeah.
People have an idea of what someone in recovery looks like, right?
So...
It's our job to change their mind about what that is.
As you'll hear, it's far from easy.
We were desolate.
People weren't coming in, and it was very scary.
We thought we were going to lose everything.
But the results can be surprising.
People try really, really hard, way harder than any normal person,