#redcupcafe

When government announced they were stopping free school meals before the October half term holidays, Harrow’s Red Cup Cafe teamed up with nearby New Vision Opticians to provide local families with free meals, and their work continues with London’s Community Kitchen.

(Reena and Henal Chotai in their beloved Red Cup Cafe; photo by Kap Marvin)

The Chotai’s are no fledglings in the world of charity. From St Luke’s Hospice to Hospitality Action and many betwixt, their patronage knows few bounds. When North Harrow Library across the road from the cafe came under threat from government closures, Reena and Henal were there. Their generosity extends even as far as Sri Lanka, where Henal volunteered for six months, teaching English to orphans. The owners of the Red Cup Cafe are good people who pride themselves on the intimacy they bring to their work. Indeed, after a long, hard day serving the public and providing free school meals for local families, they still welcome me into their establishment, mops and sprays in hand, give me free coffee, and sit down for over two hours to talk to me.

Reena and Henal opened The Red Cup Cafe five years ago, and have always strived to make it a home away from home for their customers, as it is for them. “When you eat somewhere, you leave with only a full stomach and memories; it’s the experience that counts,” says Henal. “People have chosen to spend their time and money with us,” adds Reena. “It’s important to us they get more than just their money’s worth.”

Now it is the town of Harrow that is getting more than just its money’s worth, as Reena and Henal venture to help those left in the lurch by government’s policy to rescind free school meals. “I think people were so outraged,” says Reena. “The cost was minimal compared to what had already been spent,” adds Henal. “It was a drop in the ocean. Just totally unnecessary.”

The cafe had already suffered heavily from government policies towards the hospitality sector. Functioning as a takeaway-only establishment at the start of lockdown, they made a tenth of their normal revenue, running at a loss simply by opening at all, and all with a stockroom full of fresh produce. But in true Red Cup style, Reena and Henal began distributing food to the locals, care homes and hospital.  

(The Red Cup Cafe logo; courtesy of Reena and Henal Chotai, used with permission)

One day, local Labour MP, Gareth Thomas, a friend of the cafe, walked in and told them his office had identified 4,000 children who would be in need, due to government’s cuts. “We knew we couldn’t help 4,000,” says Reena. “’But what could we do?’ we asked ourselves. So we put out a Facebook appeal, and it was shared 200 times!”

The cafe partnered up with New Vision Opticians, up the road in Rayners Lane, who acted as a drop-off and pick-up point. “After seeing that government were not going to help struggling families with food for the children, we knew we had to do something to help,” says Aarti Sawhney of New Vision. Her husband, Aman, who made the pick-ups from the Red Cup, adds that “Lockdown and COVID have not been easy for small businesses like New Vision Opticians, and everyone is struggling. With our practice being very quiet during this time, we decided to focus our efforts into helping families that may be struggling the most.” Aarti concludes, “It is a beautiful gesture to help support this campaign and we are truly honoured.”

(Aarti and Aman Sawhney of New Vision Opticians; photo courtesy of the Sawhney’s and used with permission)

Reena and Henal sought no means-testing of any kind when approached by those in need. “Of course you’re going to get people who take the Michael,” says Henal, “but you can’t let the few affect the many. We did it for the people who need it. Why should the children suffer?”

The Red Cup gang have since teamed up with London’s Community Kitchen, a collaboration that continues to this day and beyond. Watch Reena explain their work here: https://youtu.be/AuSzQsBWmh4

Henal and Reena very humbly attribute their actions to simply being in the right place at the right time: “Because we’re in hospitality we have everything at our fingertips”, says Reena. “We in the hospitality industry are experts at disaster management,” adds Henal. “Being ready for any eventuality is just the air we breathe. If you look at the pandemic, all the food that was going to nurses, doctors, hospitals, all came from hospitality, because we’re specialists in feeding the nation, we know how to, and we can do it safely, with five-star hygiene, and on a mass scale.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to do this without donations and people helping,” Reena continues, “because we’ve been hit so hard, we wouldn’t have been able to do as much. We would have done our own little thing, but it would have been very low key by comparison. New Vision have been incredible, and The Case Is Altered in Old Redding also. We’ll all continue working together in the future.”

After feeding a town, anyone would be forgiven for imagining that Reena, Henal and their friends are now looking forward to a well-earned break. But they would be very much mistaken: “We need to get back to planning how we get more revenue, how we can grow the business, because that’s the only way we can continue to do this kind of work,” Reena tells me. “We paused it because this needed our immediate focus and energy. We didn’t have a few weeks to plan this, it was an immediate need.”

“People have been massively generous,” says Henal. “And all that money is being carried forward for Christmas, because Christmas is going to be really hard for a lot of families. So we’ll team up with London’s Community Kitchen to do Christmas food hampers to tide people over for the Christmas period – it’s the least we can do!”

“We just feel we’re on the right path now,” says Reena. “This is just our little way of saying, ‘Thank you!’”

“You do what is good and right in this world, and you follow that path,” she continues in closing. “As long as you’re living a decent, good, righteous life, within your own means, that to me is happiness.”

(The Chotai family; courtesy of the Chotai’s, used with permission)

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