About CREATE

people . planet . profit 

Honest to God... they're brilliant!

Linda McGowen (Specialist Advisor, CLG)

CREATE is an award winning Social Enterprise. As a not-for-profit company we are committed to developing innovative training and employment opportunities for people who have been homeless, marginalised or vulnerable. Working in the heart of the city of Leeds Create staff and volunteers are motivated and driven to rebuild their lives: wanting a hand up, not a hand out. Check out our mission statement if you want to find out more, or download a full briefing about CREATE to learn more about our work.

Running businesses as diverse as outside catering, Café’s, housekeeping and retail Create offers people a real workplace to develop their skills, getting a foot back on the ladder of making a meaningful contribution to society.  Working in partnership with the West Yorkshire Probation Service, Create provides a structured environment for offenders to make positive choices and rebuild profitable lives.

Create also operates FareShare West Yorkshire from their warehouse in Holbeck, an operation which takes hundreds of tons of good quality surplus food from producers and retailers and makes sure that they get to the projects and places in Leeds which most need access to food and good nutrition.

Create is recognised nationally as a trailblazing scheme bringing innovative and effective solutions to the most challenging problems in society and is proud to be a part of the growth of the great city of Leeds.

Create is a new kind of company in the city of Leeds.  We offer high quality professional services in hospitality retail and catering to the corporate, voluntary and faith sectors throughout the city.

Taking its inspiration from the founding principles of St Georges Crypt in Leeds, Create is a not for profit company that ploughs every penny it makes into creating training opportunities, work experience and jobs that make a real difference in peoples lives.

The company is proud to recruit the majority of its staff from a highly motivated pool of people who are incredible driven to rebuild their lives and drive our company forward.  Our team have all experienced sleeping rough in the city of Leeds or are ex-offenders and all are committed to excellence and to growing the company for the benefit of others. 

Create is a Social Enterprise.  That means we are about achieving social objectives through enterprising solutions.  We believe in profit but also in people and everything we do models this belief. Sarah Dunwell explains a little of our vision on recieving the Social Enterprise of the Year award.

We run a number of businesses, all of which are growing both in reputation and profitability.  Outside Catering, Housekeeping, Hospitality, Cafes and Retail are the backbone of the growth of our company in delivering its social objectives.

Each day, 7 days a week, around 20 staff and 20 volunteers share the vision of delivering fantastic service to our customers and changing lives in the process.