Social Bite:
A story still being written
Since Social Bite was founded in 2012, we’ve grown beyond anything the founders originally imagined, with some major achievements marking milestones on our mission to end homelessness.
We’ve transformed Scotland’s approach to housing people experiencing homelessness. We’ve pioneered a bold alternative to temporary accommodation. And we’ve rolled out a groundbreaking initiative supporting people into work, with proven positive economic impact.
From selling sandwiches to welcoming George Clooney, the Princess of Wales, Leonardo DiCaprio, and other big names, it’s been a wild ride. As long as there are still people in the UK affected by homelessness, we’ll keep innovating and driving change. Read on to learn more about our journey so far.
Where it all began
From a small Edinburgh coffee shop to a mighty mission-driven movement.
Social Bite was co-founded by Josh Littlejohn MBE and Alice Thompson in 2012, beginning life as a small coffee shop in Edinburgh. From the start, all profits went to good causes.
Shortly after the shop on Rose Street opened, a young man called Peter, who had been selling The Big Issue outside, plucked up the courage to come in and ask for a job. Recognising his initiative, Josh and Alice brought him onto the team.
Seeing the impact stable employment had on Peter’s life convinced them to embed supported employment for people with experience of homelessness into the heart of the business. And they set a long-term aim to continue hiring people from a background of homelessness.
We started to offer more jobs to people experiencing homelessness as we became more engaged in the issue. After a few months, we introduced a “Pay it Forward” system in our coffee shops, giving customers the chance to add a little extra to cover the cost of a meal or a hot drink for someone who needs it.
Food
Our cornerstone from day one.
Good food has always been central for us. Today, we’re one of the UK’s largest providers of free freshly-made food to people in need. We provide over 140,000 food items and hot drinks on average each year through our network of coffee shops. And we distributed over 800,000 food packs during the pandemic.
We also ran a restaurant, Vesta Bar & Kitchen, formerly called ‘Home’, from 2016 until 2023. Vesta provided weekly sit-down meals for around 40 people experiencing homelessness and food poverty, as well as training opportunities for our supported employees.
Since 2014 we’ve hosted festivities with all the trimmings every Christmas Day and Christmas Eve for people who might not have anywhere else to go. Since 2020 our annual Festival of Kindness collects gifts and donations throughout the festive period to support people who are vulnerable or experiencing homelessness.
Growing a mighty movement
Since Social Bite began, we have always invited people to join the movement to end homelessness in whatever way they can, whether that’s volunteering, paying forward lunch for someone in need, donating skills or resources, or taking part in one of our mass-participation events.
From 2016 to 2018, we organised mass-participation fundraising sleep-out events called Sleep in the Park. These events saw over 18,000 people sleep out to call for an end to homelessness. They raised over £8 million, which was invested in flagship projects focussed on ending homelessness.
2021 saw us hosting one of the few public events able to take place that year, with the launch of our first-ever Break the Cycle with Olympian Sir Chris Hoy. Across two events, more than 1,500 people pedaled for change across Scotland. Many more continue to do so as part of our annual 100 Mile Challenge.
Pushing boundaries in housing and jobs
With funds raised from Sleep in the Park events, in 2018 we launched the first Social Bite Village. We took on some vacant council-owned land in Edinburgh and built a small village made up of 11 beautiful two-bedroom prefabricated houses and a large community hub.
Today this village is home to a vibrant community of people helping each other get back on their feet. We partner with Cyrenians — another homelessness charity—to provide dedicated on-site support with links to employment, education and community activities.
We also drove the adoption of Scotland’s Housing First programme. We secured 830 mainstream flats across five cities, to provide permanent homes to Scotland’s rough sleepers. Alongside the Scottish Government, we helped fund wraparound support to help people sustain their tenancies. More than 1,333 people have now been given homes with support, and the approach has been adopted by almost every local authority in Scotland.
In 2021, we launched our UK-wide employment programme, Jobs First. This provides real job opportunities with tailored support to people who have experienced homelessness. Now we’re working with some of the UK’s largest employers to transform access to the job market. In 2025, an independent evaluation of Jobs First found that the programme created significant economic and social benefits.
Going global
In 2019 our co-founder Josh Littlejohn MBE organised an international campaign called The World’s Big Sleep Out, which took place in 52 cities around the world. The events saw 60,000 people sleep out on a cold December night to raise awareness and funds on the issue of homelessness. The World’s Big Sleep Out closed both New York’s Times Square and Trafalgar Square in London, with Will Smith and Dame Helen Mirren telling a bedtime story to participants that slept out. Social Bite hosted our local Edinburgh event in Princes Street Gardens.
What’s next?
Help us continue the story
Homelessness remains a major problem in the UK. With your help, we can expand our life-changing work across food, homes, and jobs to support more people than ever.
