One Eighty Restaurant works with young people with learning disabilities between the ages of 16-22 to offer them training in partnership with the Southern Regional College. At Café One Eighty young people are able to learn within a supportive working environment, gain qualifications and confidence to enter the world of work.

Through the guidance of Director Nigel Hampton and Head of Catering Samantha McCartney, Café One Eighty with funding from the John Wilson Memorial Trust were able to purchase new uniforms for all of the staff to portray a more professional image for their customers. They were also able to install new window graphics on the outside of the building and re-painted the exterior of the building in a bright lime green colour, very eye-catching!

Through the John Wilson Memorial Trust, Nigel was able to employ two additional full-time members of staff from February 2018, and five additional part-time staff between March and September 2018. The management have continued to implement performance and productivity enhancing improvements. The new website is up and running successfully and they have continued to share daily posts on their facebook page which currently has a strong following.

In May 2018, Café One Eighty won the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council ‘Youth Excellence’ Community Award and were also nominated for an all-island Pride of Place award. One of the trainees attained a silver award at the IFEX culinary ability awards in Belfast in February 2018. In April 2018, Director Nigel Hampton was also one of the six nominees shortlisted for Social Enterprise NI Leader of the year in the prestigious Social Enterprise NI awards for 2018.

It is clear to see how Café One Eighty is flourishing; both staff and trainees are growing in numbers. In June 2018, 20 students qualified with a level 1 Hospitality Qualification and Essential Skills. The level of staff costs are significantly higher for Café One Eighty compared to competitors as there are more supervisors needed for training. All of the training is carried out on site, and all of the students have to be enrolled into the programme by the age of 22.