The social media profile says, “RB Cafe is a special place for special people and the first café in Latvia employing people with disabilities”. During the pandemic, the café has transformed into a catering company, providing both casual lunches and catering services upon orders. Social enterprise offers a wide range of dishes, including vegan, vegetarian and special diet dishes, which are currently in demand. “As I’ve always said, if you order a catering service, you don’t have to think, ‘OK, I’ll accept this because it was made by people with disabilities’. I think you should taste it and want to eat more. So, we always try to be interesting, to receive the orders, to make sure that every time it is tasty.”

The social enterprise grew out of the association “Rūpju bērns”, which has been providing both social services and training to people with disabilities for thirty years. The members of the association had learned a wide range of skills, but were often still unemployed, which gave the idea that they should become employers themselves by founding a company. Thanks to Altum’s support, they have done just that.

Māris Grāvis is involved in the company and previously in the association because of his family: “My elder sister is a person with a disability, it has been in our family all our lives. My mother started the association in the early nineties, and gradually I became involved in all the activities and continued the family tradition. Even today, the association continues to provide social services and to represent the interests of people with disabilities.”

“RB Cafe was established in 2018 and these years have not been easy. “If we started with a lot of inspiration and momentum, with many dreams and hopes, the spring of 2020 stopped us quite quickly. There were a lot of challenges and obstacles when the pandemic started, it crushed a lot of dreams and goals. But at the same time, it led us to do things differently, to do business differently, and to feel that no matter what comes, if you do and adapt, there are always good people and supporters,” says Māris. This was also the solution in times of crisis – in cooperation with Riga City Council, the café was given free use of the premises and can now continue its work.

Since its launch, 25 employment contracts have already been signed, 22 of them for people with disabilities. Many of them have gained experience and confidence and have now moved into the open labour market. Ten people are currently employed by the company. “Year after year, and it has been six years since we started. It is very easy to make something quickly and visible to everyone, but it is very difficult to act, do and implement it in the long term. Six years is not a small amount of time, I’m glad we’re still here, it’s very cool!” emphasises Māris.

Overall, the social enterprise status has brought a lot and has allowed us to take more confident steps in our development, because there are a lot of challenges in everyday life. One of the first problems that the CEO points out is that there is always pressure on costs, because in this company the productivity of each employee is at a certain level, so labour taxes have always been a big challenge. Thanks to the Ministry of Welfare, however, it is now possible to recover part of the social tax on the café’s employees. “This allows us to continue working and keeps us afloat, as the cost of utilities, raw materials has skyrocketed. We also have to increase and raise wages, but at the same time we have to find outlets and generate revenue all the time.”

“The company is designed and operated as a stepping stone for people with disabilities to compete in the open labour market, so expansion is not part of our future plans. Our aim is to set an example and create a view that people with disabilities can work, we just need to create opportunities. We are very happy that other entrepreneurs have tried to do something similar, or that people with disabilities are accepted in the open labour market. Our goal is not to become a McDonald’s with branches in every corner,” says Māris Grāvis.

However, the Association currently runs several specialised workshops that train young people in different areas. For example, there is a laundry workshop, and if there were a larger client, the association would be prepared to set up a business in this area too, providing more people with jobs. “Similarly, we have a paper recycling and paper shredding workshop where, under certain conditions and with the involvement of a cooperation partner, we could move from a social service to a social enterprise,” says Māris, while acknowledging that even then, additional support from foundations, the municipality or the state would still be needed.