Hospitality groups giving back to the Bristol community 

Bristol’s buzzing hospitality scene isn’t just about great food – it’s also quietly driving powerful social change. From championing mental health through boxing to fighting food insecurity, local restaurant groups are using their success to give back to the communities that sustain them. Tilda Teale finds out more. 

We are spoilt for choice in Bristol when it comes to dining out. The city’s restaurant scene is one of the most vibrant and eclectic in the country, and these business owners are using their success to promote food equality and give back to the community. 

Kieran and Imo Waite are the couple behind local favourites Bravas, Gambas, Cargo Cantina, and the newest restaurant on the block Condesa. The latest opened in January 2024, and I work here part-time as a supervisor, slinging mezcal margaritas behind the bar. Inspired by both Mexican and Spanish cuisine, the restaurants use beautifully curated small plates to showcase sustainable, locally sourced ingredients, for example, Belmont Estate beef, sourced from a regenerative and rewilding-focused farm just outside of Bristol.    

Season and Taste (Kieran and Imo’s hospitality group) worked with charities like Doctors Without Borders and Action against Hunger, since it first turned a profit in 2011. This year they have committed £12,000 to Bristol-born charity Empire Fighting Chance to bring their fundraising efforts closer to home, and connect their staff with the local community. Funds will be raised via the sale of certain dishes on their menu, like Bravas’s popular aubergine molasses and the classic patatas bravas at Gambas.  

Empire Fighting Chance trains their staff to give therapy sessions alongside coaching young people struggling with their mental health to box, in their boxing gym in Easton. The charity has worked with more than 10,400 disadvantaged young people, helping them build the connection between physical and mental wellbeing.  

Kieran became aware of Empire while searching for a local boxing gym for himself and his three young boys, and was touched by how transforming the work has been on so many young people in the community. His vision is to provide more than just fundraising, “We plan to invite Empire kids in for work experience or a mock interview, with the possibility of long-term employment. Nutrition is so important for physical and mental fitness, and we want to encourage some transfer of skills between S&T and Empire.” 

Every year the company offers staff members the opportunity to run in the Bristol 10k, donating £100 for everyone who completes the race. This year was a record turnout and over £3000 was donated to Empire Fighting Chance.  

Other well-known faces within the hospitality scene in Bristol are Josh and Holly Eggleton, the brother and sister duo behind the Pony Group – which owns Salt and Malt, The Pony, The Kensington Arms and Root. The pair are heavily involved with Team Canteen; a collaboration with Bianchis Group, Team Love, Emmeline and Pipe and Slippers. Its mission is to encourage Bristol hospitality leaders towards tackling food insecurity in Bristol.  

Most recently the group put on their second “Anti banquet”, an event that’s a partnership between Team Canteen, The Pony Chew Valley, Ashton Gate Stadium, Team Love and Plaster. In 2024 the event raised £117,000 for grassroots charities tackling food inequality through a charity dinner turned on its head. Instead of company leaders dining together, the CEOs and bosses are instead invited to help out in the kitchen and serve food to high-performing staff members but who wouldn’t normally have a seat at the table, or give the tickets to members of a local charity.

Other initiatives include partnerships with charities tackling homelessness and food insecurity like Feeding Bristol, Caring in Bristol, and events with Feed the Homeless providing free fish and chips to those in need.  

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