It might be any training restaurant, smart, modern with a fourcourse menu. The meals are well cooked and served, typical of any College or University training restaurant. However, the security search, entry through locked gates, barbed wire and high walls suggest something different. Guests are not permitted to enter with sharp items, mobile phones, lipstick or cameras. They are security checked in advance when making reservations and must produce photo ID before they enter.
The Clink Charity operates four training restaurants of which two are inside the prison wall.
There are 84,405 adults in prison in England and Wales, of those released sadly 46%* of them go back to prison within the first year of release and for those serving sentences of less than 12 months this increases to 60%. The sole aim of The Clink Charity is to reduce reoffending rates by training and placing our graduates upon their release from prison into employment in the hospitality industry. Since launching the first Clink Restaurant at HMP High Down in 2009 we now have seven projects which achieve outstanding results by offering our 5step integrated programme.
Prisoners at The Clink work a 40hour week simulating a professional working environment. Our dedicated fulltime trainers and assessors work closely with the prisoners to help them gain their City & Guilds NVQs qualifications. Upon release our support workers help the graduates find employment, housing and then mentor them weekly, helping them reintegrate back into society. During the last 12 months, The Clink has been able to train up to 160 prisoners a day and in total trained 384 prisoners. Of the 92 Clink graduates released 89 went into fulltime employment and 3 into rehab. Between them they had gained 138 full NVQ level 2 qualifications.
We currently operate four Clink Restaurants, at HMP High Down, HMP Cardiff, HMP Brixton and HMP Styal.
By dining at one of our restaurants you are supporting our training and giving the prisoners the experience they require. The menus are created around the changing seasons, fresh local produce and the City and Guilds syllabus. Each restaurant also offers facilities for corporate events and private dining. In addition to the restaurants, we operate Clink Gardens at HMP Send and HMP High Down to achieve City & Guilds NVQs in horticulture. Fruit, vegetables and herbs from the gardens are used by the restaurants along with eggs from our chickens.
Clink Events provides catering beyond the prison walls for corporate and charity events. It gives prisoners and homeless clients from the Centrepoint charity the opportunity to train to gain qualifications in event catering and prepare for fulltime employment.
We now have over 250 employers willing to take on Clink graduates subject to a satisfactory interview. Such as Hilton Hotels, The Royal Lancaster Hotel, Roast Restaurant and Harbour and Jones.
To date we have won more than 57 awards, including The Centre for Social Justice – Social Enterprise Award in March 2017.
Our catering industry ambassadors who include Albert Roux, Prue Leith, Cyrus Todiwala, Antonio Carluccio, Giorgio Locatelli, Daniel Galmiche, Lisa Allen, Thomasina Miers and many others work with us to deliver masterclasses in our kitchens and restaurants and introduce Clink graduates to prospective employers.
The Justice Datalab published in November 2016 a report that highlights prisoners going through The Clink Charity training programmes are 41% less likely to reoffend. The report states that the charity has achieved a ‘statistically significant result’. In order to show a fair assessment, Clink Graduates that qualified for analysis were measured comparatively to individuals that have not received The Clink’s intervention but were similar in circumstance.
We are currently building our central production kitchen for Clink Events and also looking for future sites in UK prisons. The Clink Charity’s aim is to see more than 1,000 highly trained and qualified Clink graduates enter employment each year by 2020. We are proud that with our partner HMPPS we continue to achieve extraordinary outcomes while fulfilling our key objective of reducing reoffending.
We have done this in an affordable and value for money way while fulfilling our core values of compassion, professionalism and integrity in an environment that sometimes seems bleak with so many daily challenges. We hope that The Clink has demonstrated what can be achieved when society engages collectively to help those who want and deserve a second chance.

1.Give a detailed account of your view of this example of organisational behaviour in the workplace. Is there anything that was a particular surprise?

2.Consider the issues that would need to be addressed when employing these staff within the hospitality industry.

3.Identify and consider potential benefits to the individuals, the organisation and to society generally.