Alternative business models for soup kitchen

• Main Authors: Ibrahim, Jamaludin, Ahmad Dahlan, Abdul Rahman
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: International Foundation for Research and Development (IFRD) 2015
• Subjects: HB522 Income. Factor shares.Interest.Profit.Entrepreneurship
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/45386/1/2015-6th_ICMFE-2015_Proceedings_Book-Best_Paper-Alternative_Bz_Models_4_Soup_Kitchen.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/45386/; http://ifrnd.org/

In large cities around the world, Soup Kitchen is an important charity institution that serves the urban poor and homeless. Charitable individuals and organisations in developed and developing countries have used soup kitchens as channels to feed the poor. Most of these soup kitchens are ad-hoc operations without proper business plans to ensure business sustainability. Although, it is a short solution to the urban poor hunger problem, it nevertheless has become a critical service to alleviate hunger in many of the world’s modern cities. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, government proposal to close down soup kitchens because of the undesirable crowd it attracts allegedly ruining the reputation of the city was met with anger and outrage by the general public. It has now become a permanent social institution. Thus there is a need to make soup kitchen business model sustainable, socially desirable and turning it into a viable social safety net. In this conceptual paper we explored the use of Business Model Canvas (BMC) to generate alternative business models that could sustain the business operations of a typical soup kitchen in Malaysia. We used BMCs to study, analyse and evaluate different approaches to operate a soup kitchen. We analyse and compare alternative ways of running a soup kitchen considering different design and strategy to the BMCs. We found certain business models are conceptually more sustainable than others.Charitable social entrepreneurs should consider these models when designing their soup kitchen business operations.