Crepes with a Difference.

40,000 – that’s the number of babies born worldwide every 2 hours, its half the seats in the MCG and its the number of kids who undertake the VCE English exam every year. But most significantly - 40,000 is the number of young people that sleep rough in Australia every night.

That’s 40,000 too many.

Dan Poole and his team at Crepes for Change, didn't wait around for others to make a revolution in Youth Homelessness, they realised they could make a difference.

“We can either wait for someone else to fix it, or we can fix it ourselves”

              – Liam Poole

They created Australia’s first non-profit food van, where 100% of the profits would go towards eliminating Youth Homelessness - A van with a social plan.  

Their goal/mission is: To be able to employ, train and support young people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and allow them to find long-term employment and prosper on their own. (http://crepesforchange.com/about/)

Crepes for Change – Eliminating Youth Homelessness

CFC Featured in the 2016 January Herald Sun. 

In 2014 they were two Melbourne brothers with an idea.  In 2016 they have progressed to a team of 9 executives, 3 paid staff and 19 volunteers (The Age) and an expansion into coffee and crepes.  How did they do it?

Founder, Dan Poole, 21, was driven to have a “positive impact on the lives of others through entrepreneurship.” It was his passion and dedication towards starting a business with a difference that provided the starting point for its success.  When you want to be the first people with a not-for-profit food van, and made it work, - determination is elevated. Furthermore, having an idea that revolved around helping others brings extra motivation - if you are unsuccessful, you not only let yourself down, but in this case, the 40,000 young homeless kids you set out to help. Therefore, I consider Crepes for Change (CFC) success is because it has 3 main differences from competitors:

1. Dan's/ the teams passion for entrepreneurship
2. The mission of being ‘not for profit’ and the determination not let down 40,000 young people     
3. One of a kind/ Unique - it had never been done before

Founder Dan Poole, 21, and his brother Liam, 19. 

With these three points of difference, Dan and his brother Liam, 19, set out to succeed. Initially they raised $12,000 through crowd funding (GoodFood.com). This was mainly done through an Internet site called Chuffed - https://www.chuffed.org where people could subscribe and donate to CFC, and 100% of donations would go to starting up the business.

Crepes for Change's Chuffed Webpage - Where the initial $12,000 was raised.
Also where you can still donate today. 

So many choices!

Always busy at Crepes for Change!

How they managed to raise $12,000 for something that didn't exist yet seems hard to conceive. However, remember this is not-for-profit. I believe many would share my personal attitude – being more willing to contribute to a business that has a social focus – you get the feeling that you are making a difference.

They as a company are different. Apart from being the first not-for-profit food van in Australia, they also focus on the education of young disadvantaged Australians. They have established a program inside the CFC van where they learn hospitality and barista skills, which can be used in the future. Money only goes so far, but it is these skills that will allow youth to get jobs and make a living and life for themselves – escaping homelessness.

An integral part of a not-for-profit organization is that your customers are educated on the issue you are addressing. Otherwise what makes you different from a chain store that just takes your money? It’s simple: if there are two food or crepe vans next to each other; one gives its profits towards youth homelessness, and the other owner pockets the profits, which would you choose? Giving back is part of what makes us feel good about ourselves, if people are aware of it they will do it (most of the time). When I ordered my crepe from the CFC van at a #GlobalHungerHack weekend, it wasn’t because I was actually feeling like a crepe, it was because I had been told that they were a social enterprise and not-for-profit business.

Crepes for Change are special, and I want them to remind people of that more. My only change would be to possible provide a receipt to customers, with information on the back, which can be read while the order is prepared. Information about the contribution to youth homelessness or other ways the profits are used to help. Make homelessness known and getting other people on board gives you a greater change of achieving the lofty goals that have been set.

An example of what facts could be on the back on a receipt- reminding customers how their money is contributing towards eliminating youth homelessness. 

Crepes for Change are making a big difference in youth Homelessness. Dan hopes to raise over $100,000 in 2016, and with 5 emails a day asking him to cater at different events I have no doubt he will achieve his goal and perhaps do better.

Crepes For Change are a business with a difference, they are making a positive change towards youth homelessness and everyone should get on board.

Read more at: 

• Crepes for Change Official Website
• Good Food Review 
• Crepes for Change Chuffed Webpage
• The Age Article

 Visit them:

•  March 23rd @ Coburg Drive in Cinema

 Volunteer at:

• Crepes for Change Sign Up Instructions 

Donate at:

• Chuffed Webpage 

Follow: 

• CFC Instagram
• CFC Facebook
• Dan Poole's Linked In

(Disclosure: unless otherwise stated images & facts sourced from http://crepesforchange.com/)