Concrete Playground Meets Simon Griffiths from Shebeen Non-Profit Bar

This year, Melbourne and Australia got its first not-for-profit bar Shebeen on Manchester Lane. With every drink sold going towards developing projects in its country of origin, it is changing the way we think about charity and sipping a tipple.

We have Simon Griffiths to thank for this. Concrete Playground got hold of Simon to talk about his philanthropic work, Shebeen, toilet paper and his cat.

What drove you to philanthropic work?

I started working in the corporate world but quickly realised that I wanted to use my skills to solve social problems, not just business problems. After a lot of research I found that the number one problem faced by development aid organisations was a lack of funding, so I decided to create a new channel for funding, moving away from the donation market, and instead creating an avenue for consumer dollars to create social impact.

After you came up with the concept for Shebeen with Zanna McComish, what was it that made you think, this really might work?

The basic concept was actually 100 percent Zanna's, but it has snowballed into something much larger and more sustainable over the years. When Zanna first mentioned the idea to me, I was so excited that I knew a lot of people would dig it as well ... we just had to figure out how to make the business model work.

How was it getting partners and suppliers on board?

The really tricky part was raising the capital to get the venue open. We ended up raising social capital, i.e. without any financial return, from 20-25 different investors, then pieced together product partnerships with Brown-Forman, Schweppes and Silver Chef to fill the remaining cash shortage.

We did everything on a tiny budget, so had to garner pro bono support from anyone and everyone, including Foolscap Studio (interior architecture), Swear Words (graphic design), Run Forrest (PR and communications), McCorkells Construction (building), Alpha 60 (uniforms), Tin & Ed (murals and uniform graphics), and so on. It has been a long but amazing ride!

What is one of the projects you are most excited about contributing to in the developing world?

I really get off on KickStart, who we work with in Ethiopia. Around 80 percent of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa are small-scale farmers who depend on unreliable rain to grow crops. KickStart figured out that irrigation would allow many of them to move from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, so they developed the MoneyMaker pump to allow farmers to draw water from rivers, ponds and wells to irrigate large areas of land year-round. Basically their pumps create a substantial and sustainable increase in household income — and they're really great at measuring their impact. We know that every $1 we give them turns into $12 of profits and wages for one of their farmers. That's a pretty exciting return-on-investment — or return-on-drinking-an-Ethiopian-beer.

For you, how does Shebeen's support to the developing world differ from other charitable organisations?

Basically we give consumers an opportunity to put their purchasing power to work. Now that we're open we're 100 percent self sustaining — we're already profitable and will start donating funds in the next four months or so. We'll only seek to raise additional capital to open new venues.

What do you want people to take away from Shebeen?

We want them to start thinking a little differently about what it means to be a consumer, and where their money ends up.

After five years in the making. What does it feel like to walk into the bar and see it as a reality?

It's still quite surreal to see people in there! But we've been so busy it's also been difficult to stop and celebrate. I'm taking my first weekend off for the year this weekend — it's going to be great!

Where do you see Shebeen in five years?

In five years we're hoping to have venues in five or more locations and will hopefully be looking at our own retail range of products as well.

What is your favourite drink on the menu?

I've really gotten into our cocktails. I really like the Ginger Kaffir Limeade, which is made with Kaffir Lime infused Finlandia vodka, and our warhead-sour lemon frozen margaritas, which we're making with El Jimador tequila. We're just about to start experimenting with cocktails on tap, too.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Usually my alarm, or my cat biting my foot. Occasionally it's a hangover.

What's next for Simon Griffiths?

Getting Shebeen doing a great takeaway lunchtime trade, opening the second Shebeen venue, and selling more toilet paper — I also run whogivesacrap.org.

Images by Clever Deer.