Social Pantry, London’s leading independent caterer celebrated a decade of working with prison leavers at Mansion House. 

During the evening Social Pantry’s CEO and Founder Alex Head announced the launch of The Opportunity Network, a new networking group which will bring together like-minded organisations who believe in the power of opportunity and social impact with the intention of encouraging more business leaders to employ and train prison leavers.

Employment significantly reduces the chance of a prison leaver reoffending, with prison leavers who have a job to go to being 16.8% less likely to re-offend (gov.uk 2025). Reoffending costs the economy approximately £18.1billion per year (gov.uk 2022). The Opportunity Network hopes to be a catalyst to help more prison leavers find work, currently only 17% of ex-offenders manage to get a job within 6 weeks of release, (gov.uk 20025) and to help business leaders see the benefits of employing prison leavers, 86% of business owners who employ prison leavers rate them as good at their jobs (novus 2023). 

Social Pantry are keen to hear from any businesses who are interested in finding out more about employing and training prison leavers, as well as from those who are already training and employing prison leavers and would be happy to share their experiences as part of The Opportunity Network. Entry to The Opportunity Network will be free and the inaugural meeting will be held on 22 January 2026 in central London. To register your interest in joining the network visit socialpantry.co.uk/opportunitynetwork.

Alex Head says; “We know at Social Pantry that we can make a difference to someone leaving prison by removing any barriers to give them a chance to get meaningful employment. Employment is a leading factor in preventing reoffending and I feel it’s vital that we use our voice and our experience to make a bigger impact. We want to gather businesses together in The Opportunity Network to share what we’ve learnt and encourage others to consider offering opportunities to prison leavers.”

The Lord Mayor of London Alastair King says; “It was a privilege to host Social Pantry at Mansion House and to mark a decade of their inspiring work with prison leavers. Their commitment to creating opportunity and driving social impact is a powerful example of how business can be a force for good.I warmly welcome the launch of The Opportunity Network and encourage business leaders in the City and beyond to support this important initiative, which will help to unlock potential and change lives.”

Robin, a kitchen team member at Social Pantry comments; “The team at Social Pantry have been so welcoming to me. Working in the kitchens over the past few months has given me a huge amount of confidence and self-respect. As a prison-leaver myself, I'd urge you to give people like me a chance.”

In the past decade Social Pantry has employed and trained over 45 prison leavers, the team have opened a staff mess and prisoner led cafe in Feltham YOI, Alex Head sits on the Wandsworth prison employment board, and Alex and other members of the Social Pantry team have shared their knowledge and experiences with countless other companies. Earlier this year Social Pantry were one of two London companies to win a prestigious Kings Award for promoting opportunity.