Flour power! New branch of bakery that’s seeking to take on the chains
The outlet trains and employs young people leaving prison and the care system
Friday, 16th October — By Amy Reid
Dusty Knuckle is set to open in Blackstock Road
SOCIAL impact bakery The Dusty Knuckle is set to open up in Blackstock Road at the start of next month, proud of its ability to compete with private capital-backed chains.
The east London staple, which started out in Dalston in 2014, trains and employs at-risk youths, including prison and care leavers. It has another café in Haringey and a van in Highbury Fields.
The team are aiming to open on November 9 in the Finsbury Park street, which was ranked the world’s 23rd coolest by Time Out last year.
Its new spot was previously a family-owned Italian restaurant. Chief executive Max Tobias told the Tribune it felt important for him to take up the baton as an owner-operator in a hospitality scene squeezed by big corporate players backed by private capital.
He added that Blackstock Road holds a lot of nostalgic value for him as a north Londoner and an Arsenal fan.
“We decided to open another location for lots of reasons,” he said. “Commercial viability is important, but we want to work in areas that have an interesting socio-economic make-up.
“We feel that we have got a model that works effectively for engaging young people and achieving positive outcomes for whom there is growing need. We’ve all read about the NEET [not in education, employment or training] crisis, the prison crisis, the manosphere crisis and the economic circumstances young people are facing.
“Bakery is an age-old, civilisation-old human activity that brings people into the same physical space.”
Mr Tobias said The Dusty Knuckle has never taken any outside investment and runs its impact efforts primarily from the money it makes trading. He said the constant variety and strong sense of purpose his work provides are its best parts.
“I never feel stagnant. I genuinely feel we’re doing something valuable that is unique. Sociologically we have a model where we use our busy operations to create solidarity with people leaving prison and care, yet we still get criticised for being a boujee gentrification force like Gail’s.”
The bakery and coffee chain, born in Hampstead 20 years ago and now ordained the official stamp that your London neighbourhood has been gentrified, is primarily backed by US private equity firm Bain Capital.
It has more than 150 locations across the capital, including one just off Blackstock Road and a stone’s throw away from The Dusty Knuckle’s van in Highbury Fields.
