A new student-led cafe in Hobart will funnel every dollar of profit into feeding university students who are struggling to put meals on the table.
Grounded, a social enterprise cafe run by the Tasmanian University Student Association, is set to open on June 9 on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Melville Street, at the base of the University of Tasmania’s Hobart Apartments.
TUSA president Jack Oates Pryor said the cafe was designed to provide affordable, high-quality food and coffee for students and the broader community, with all profits going back into student welfare programs.
“All the money from this goes directly back into the food that goes onto students’ tables,” he said.
Oates Pryor said 53% of UTAS students are food insecure, with almost one in three skipping multiple meals a week.
That data is at least two years old and he expects the figures to have worsened since then.
“It’s the highest that I’ve seen across the country,” he said.
UTAS students are also working around 29 hours a week on average on top of their studies.
Oates Pryor said the average UTAS student is now a 34-year-old woman studying nursing, and 57.3% of students are studying part-time.
He stressed the cafe isn’t aimed at any single group.
“We’re designing it for everyone,” he said.
The cafe will include a pay-it-forward model, letting university staff, alumni and community members anonymously shout a coffee or meal for a student in need.
Profits will fund TUSA’s existing Food Hub and a planned social supermarket in the city, which Oates Pryor described as the “gold standard” for food relief in Australia.
He said no other student association in the country is currently running one.
The university is not providing any extra funding for the venture, though TUSA has been working with the institution to ensure the space, owned by the university, is fit for purpose.
Students have been involved in co-designing the cafe from the start, and the association plans to hire students as staff and offer training opportunities.
Experienced Hobart chef George Falconer will run the kitchen, and the cafe is also looking for a front-of-house manager.
Oates Pryor encouraged the wider community to support Grounded when it opens.
“In doing so, the community are directly funding meals for students,” he said.
