Each £12.50 bowl at Jefes Ramen's Stockport pub nights pays for a hot meal for a homeless person. Next: Swan With Two Necks, Friday 30 October, 6.30pm.
A Stockport ramen pop-up has paid for hot meals for just over 150 homeless people, and its next night is at the Swan With Two Necks on Princes Street on Friday 30 October.
Jefes Ramen runs Buy 1 Give 1 nights in pub kitchens. Every bowl a guest buys pays for a hot meal for someone experiencing homelessness. The pub keeps all the takings at the bar.
It is run by Jerelle Okoro, who goes by Jefe. He is a former professional basketball player who says he has been homeless himself, and he lives and works on Shaw Heath. He answered our questions in writing.
How it started on Shaw Heath
Mr Okoro had a barbershop in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. He had to close it, and he rebuilt the business in Stockport.
“I live and work in Stockport, on Shaw Heath,” he said. “I had to close my first barbershop in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and rebuilt it here, and I’ve since opened a coffee house on Shaw Heath as well.”
“The community here have really brought me in and entertained my crazy ideas. To be very honest, it’s the community that pushed me to take the ramen around the UK. I wouldn’t have had the guts to do this by myself.”
He said a book changed his thinking after he lost the shop. “After I lost my shop I read The Go-Giver, which changed how I think business should work, and I started Jefes Ramen as a Community Interest Company.”
The company’s press release says he has run Jefes Barbers for four years. It says the shop funded £5 haircuts during the cost-of-living crisis and free cuts for people experiencing homelessness.
How a night works
“We take over a pub’s kitchen and turn it into a ramen pop-up,” Mr Okoro said. “Guests buy a bowl (from £12.50 on Eventbrite; the ticket is the bowl), and the pub keeps 100% of the bar. We use the money to work with the charities and feed as many people as they have access to.”
The Eventbrite listing for 30 October has three bowls on the menu:
- Tokyo Chick: shoyu marinated chicken in the house broth, with pak choi, a soy-marinated egg and kimchi
- Miso Shroom: hoisin and soy marinated mushroom in a miso broth, with honey glazed corn ribs, pak choi, egg and kimchi
- The Big Baloo: pulled beef brisket, maple bacon, tater tots, pak choi, egg and edamame, billed as “the first ever ramen inspired by the Great British breakfast”
Gyozas, skewers and toasties are sold as sides at the bar on the night. The listing says the team is four people, “cooking out of pub kitchens across Greater Manchester”.
Which charity gets the meals
Mr Okoro said he first approached the charity Wellspring.
“When we started, we spoke to Wellspring, but they explained they already work with a few others. Hopefully we can work with them in the near future,” he said. “The Booth Centre was the next closest charity with access to vulnerable people and the facilities to cook the ramen, so that’s who we work with now.”
The Eventbrite listing says the meals go through the Booth Centre in Manchester, “and we’re working on doing the same here in Stockport”.
150 meals so far
“So far we’ve fed just over 150 people, through our nights at the Swan With Two Necks,” Mr Okoro said. “It’s quite cool when we have only done this pop-up 5 times.”
The press release puts the count at six nights at the pub. It says the nights added more than £2,000 to the pub’s drink sales and lifted footfall on its quiet days by about 40%. It says the last night pre-sold about 50 bowls.
Other pubs may follow. “I’m in talks with other pubs in surrounding areas for more nights this winter; nothing else is signed yet, so I won’t name them until they are,” he said.
The 382k Reasons Crowdfunder
The campaign is called 382k Reasons. The press release says the name comes from Shelter’s estimate that 382,618 people in England are homeless. The aim is to feed 382,000 people, one for each of them.
The Crowdfunder has a target of £8,000 and closes at 6.50pm on 27 October. When we checked it on 11 October it had raised £555 from 25 supporters, 6% of the target. It is a keep-what-you-raise project, so the company gets whatever is pledged even if the target is missed.
“I think I’ve solved most of this Rubik’s cube of a business, but there are still challenges in scaling around the UK,” Mr Okoro said. “The £8k will help with that journey: our own prep kitchen, an action team to help more people, and travel so we can take this around the country.”
The press release describes the target as being for a mobile kitchen. It quotes him: “If somebody gave me £8,000 just to buy meals, eventually that money would run out and I’d be asking again. Don’t fund the meal. Fund the kitchen.”
The Crowdfunder page says the meals given away go out in insulated thermal flasks rather than cardboard boxes. Customers who collect 10 flasks and return them get a voucher for a free meal, and the flasks go back into use for outreach.
From basketball to sofas
Mr Okoro said he played professional basketball for the Leicester Riders, and for teams in London and Manchester. His Crowdfunder page names the Manchester Giants and the London Lions, and says he retired from playing in 2020.
He was open about the hard years. “I make a lot of bad decisions, but I also believe in facing the repercussions head on,” he said. “So I’ve spent a lot of my life sleeping on floors or on people’s sofas. Business mistakes have made me choose between giving up or living in tough conditions.”
In the press release he says: “I can’t ignore what I saw and experienced. Every town has a pub with a quiet night and people with nowhere to sleep. This can work anywhere.”
What it means for you
The next night is on Friday 30 October, from 6.30pm to 10pm, at the Swan With Two Necks, 36 Princes Street, Stockport SK1 1RY.
- Tickets: £12.50 a bowl on Eventbrite. You choose your bowl when you sit down.
- Book early: the listing says booking before midnight on the Wednesday before gets 20% off or a free side. After that there are no online tickets, and it is walk-in only if there is space, at full price.
- Drinks: bought at the bar, and every penny stays with the pub.
- Donate: the 382k Reasons Crowdfunder is open until 27 October.
Pubs and charities that want to host a night can contact Jefes Ramen through jefesramen.org. For more going on in the borough, see what’s on in Stockport this month.
Have your say