Joining Team SP as a Prison Leaver: 5 Minutes with Harvey, Kitchen Assistant

As a leading and proud employer of prison leavers, we are constantly working with prisons and organisations to bring people on board and rehabilitate as part of Team Social Pantry. In 2023 alone, we employed six prison leavers, with plans to expand in the new year.

One of those new starters is Harvey, having joined us from The Clink Charity Restaurant where he worked whilst he was in prison. We grabbed Harvey from our very busy kitchen to find out how he got into cooking, his experience of joining Social Pantry earlier this year, and his plans for the future.

I’ve done a lot of different things in my life and somehow, it’s all lead to one direction and I’ve found myself in the kitchen. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, I’ve always loved food and I used to eat out a lot. I quickly realised whilst working in a professional kitchen that there’s a lot of things that I don’t know, and a lot of stuff that I really want to learn. I want to master my craft. Working here has been a great place to work and learn, it’s a nice environment.

I love Italian food, not even just pizza, l love a good pasta! I love Thai food and Asian style cuisine, Indian food, all of it! 

For a while now, I’ve had the plan of opening my own market stall or food truck, or something along those lines.

My original plan was sandwiches – proper posh sandwiches, with great bread. I had loads of good ideas for what I wanted to offer, and those ideas are still there, I just want to learn more about making sauces, purées, chutneys and all these things.

I was working in The Clink, which was an in-prison restaurant. I was a cook – prep chef, line chef, you kind of do everything. The restaurant was open to the public, at first it was only open one day a week, but over time it opened for three days a week, so members of the public used to come and dine in the restaurant.

It was a wonderful place to be when I was in prison, as it was a bit like an escape from prison life, it didn’t feel like I was in prison when I was cooking at the restaurant. It was a nicer environment, it was like a proper restaurant, so instead of sitting there with bars on the windows, you’re in a restaurant, with porcelain plates! Also, metal knives and forks, things that you wouldn’t even think about on the outside. Plus, there was a good coffee machine in there, and I’m a bit of a coffee snob so it was nice to have that. I would have gone there just for the coffee, to be honest with you.

I think it was a bit of luck, a bit of destiny. When I was leaving prison, there is a sign-out process, where they ask you if you want to sign on at the Jobcentre and I declined everything. I said that I knew what I wanted to, I knew I wanted to do something with food, and there was this lovely woman in the room who said, “oh, I might have somewhere perfect for you, a catering company”.

I didn’t know that much about Social Pantry, I just knew it was a catering company that hired people who have been in prison, and that who didn’t care about that type of stuff. So, I thought, why not give it a go?!

I called and spoke to Silvia (HR & Culture Manager) and was invited to come in and meet Sarah (Head of Development Chef) and then invited back again for a trial shift. I cooked the staff lunch that first day, I made Vegan Chilli Con Carne or something like that – nothing I could mess up! I helped, and I’ve been here ever since. I started working 2 days a week, and then Joe (Senior Head Chef) asked me if I could do more days, but I was still adjusting to life outside a little bit as well. Coming out of prison and going straight into full time work might seem black and white to everyone, but it’s not. I still had a lot of stuff I was figuring out and lifestyle choices I was toying with, but I just decided to give it my all thought why not just go for it?! I’m enjoying it, I’m loving it and for the past couple of months I’ve been working four days a week.

It’s a difficult one. I researched Social Pantry and had a look on the website before I came in, but I didn’t look in-depth into the work that you do with prisons and that kind of thing. When I first came here, even though I’d come from prison I maybe thought that Silvia would know, but that no-one else would know. When I started in the kitchen I was trying to, not hide the fact that I’d been to prison, but I was conscious of it, and when I met Alex (Founder) for the first time, she was like, “how’s it been, being out of prison?”, I was like, “what?! I’ve not been to prison! Who, me?!”

Really, I was ashamed of it, a little bit. I spoke to someone close to me and they told me I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, it is what it is, and I’ve embraced that. I think it’s a benefit for me working here because I’m here for a reason. I think it helps me in the kitchen, I think it gives me a step up with the Head Chefs, when I’m here. They have been very flexible. When I first came, I didn’t want special treatment, I didn’t want it to be like, “oh that’s the guy that’s come from prison”, I just wanted to be an employee, I wanted to work hard, get the job done, learn and do my thing. Everyone here is lovely, I haven’t got a bad word to say about anyone, everyone is really nice.

I think understanding someone’s situation is a massive thing, especially when you’re still adjusting to life on the outside. I think things worked out well for me and everything happens for a reason, the timing worked out perfectly, but for other people getting released, for someone to know, accept and understand your situation, is a very helpful thing. It’s a good gateway to get back into work, whether this is a career you want to pursue or not.

The opportunity is here for you to do what you like, so depending on your passion and how seriously you want to do it, you’ve got all the tools that you need to learn on the journey and take it as far as you want to.

Learning new stuff, different techniques and working with food I’ve never worked with before.

One hundred percent, it’s just a good place to be! There are some charismatic people running through the building and there’s a lot of opportunity here within these walls that you can do what you want with.

If you’d like to know more about our work as an employer of prison leavers, why not check our our Impact in Numbers, or read up on Life Inside HMP Wandsworth with Georgii Jackman who is the Strategic Support Remand Lead at the prison.