Our Social Mission
Chai by Kai is a profit for purpose tea business, founded and run by someone who is care experienced and disabled. The tea has to be worth drinking on its own. The point of the business is what it does with the money.
The issue we exist for
Care experienced and disabled people get a rough deal, and it is rarely of their own making. A third of care leavers face homelessness within two years of leaving care, and a quarter of the UK's homeless population is care experienced. Research suggests almost half of care leavers live with an identified mental health concern. Disabled people carry extra living costs into a job market that is hard to enter and harder to stay in. These are not separate issues; they are often the same lives at different moments.
How the business helps
Once a fair wage for the blending hours is covered, at the real Living Wage rate, 30% of the profit goes to care experienced and disabled causes close to home. Year one has a floor: a minimum of 100 pounds, even if we make nothing. And we only ever claim what has actually been given.
Good tea donated to homelessness outreach, because being homeless shouldn't mean the cheapest teabag. A warm, dignified cup is a small thing that isn't small.
Paid, per event stall work at the real Living Wage for care experienced, disabled and homeless folk, designed flexibly so people can actually do it. Real work, real pay, never 'exposure'.
What we measure
Three things, tracked in our records and reported every year: money given, free tea donated at what it cost us, and paid hours created at the real Living Wage.
By profit we mean our sales income less the cost of stock, packaging, postage, card and platform fees, and a wage for the blending hours at the real Living Wage rate. We give 30% of what is left. Our records are available on request.
The honest bit
We are at the very start. In our first year, after a fair wage for the hours, the surplus may be little more than the floor, and we won't dress that up. We would rather give a real amount honestly, every year, than headline a figure we couldn't keep. As Chai by Kai grows, so does what we give.