Our setting is simple beautiful and historic, with the high quality aesthetic touch of our parent organisation, Ruskin Mill Trust. We have the Academy of Makers and Gallery adjoining the cafe, the Bakery and Crafts shop in the making. The whole place is set around the central theme of theraputic vocational education. We work together with Freeman College, and their students take part in work experience placements with the makers and in Fusion Organic Cafe.
See the Ruskin Mill Trust website and our Partners page. Fusion Organic was set up in 2008 by Melvin Jarman and his team, together with Freeman College and the Trust, and has the following vision & values statement: Fusion Organic Vision, Values & Mission Vision Fusion Organic is a social enterprise owned and operated by Ruskin Mill Trust, set with the task of bringing together the fields of theraupuetic education and successful business. This creates two co-dependant primary aims: to be a successful ethical food business, with it’s food philosophy living up to its name, fusing world cuisine with local Organic and Biodynamic produce. There is a firm belief artisan cookery and real food, an emphasis on simplicity to feature the fantastic produce, and more than a touch of restaurant flare to wow the senses. Here too we also strive to balance the enjoyment of food with its health benefits. All of this is in place to serve Fusion Organic’s primary and founding objective - to provide meaningful and useful work experience to students of Freeman College, by embodying the highly developmental and practical spiritual ethos of Ruskin Mill Trust. Values ''By co-creating a vibrant and ethical food enterprise with a work culture of creativity, love for one’s work, professionalism and humility, we can successfully role model this real and accessible pathway into the world of work, offering the students both hospitality qualifications and transferable work and living skills to help them in their transition to independence.'' Mission
Work ethic within Fusion: Within all areas of Fusion’s operations is the central precept that good attitude / work-ethic is a necessary to achieve competence and to be able to enjoy one’s work. Areas of particular importance are:
To advance the education of young people with learning difficulties and/or behavioural problems or special educational needs through training in the areas of arts, crafts, agriculture and environmental sciences, with particular reference being given to the indications and insights of Rudolf Steiner in these areas. Our VisionThis is how we want our world to be: Each individual experiences meaningful relationships with universe, earth and people and has the potential to shape their own future. Our ValuesThese are the values that guide our behaviour and decision-making: We value inclusive learning and living activities that integrate practical activity, thinking and our emotions. We value respecting and striving to understand all peoples' differences and uniqueness. We believe all people have the potential for positive change and development. We value relating with openess, goodwill, tolerance and treating individuals with dignity and respect. Manager / executive chef: Melvin Jarman Assistant manager / head chef: Jonathan Cummings Front of house manager: Oliver Pontifract Chefs / Waiting staff: Komal, Joe, Gavin, Stuart, Bo, David, Mutsumi What we do ~ the Fusion family outside Fusion: Girl who ate the world ~ our resident food blogger Unome ~ beatbox extraordinaire Riddimtion ~ Sheffiled's best, biggest and original reggae sound system Mim Suleiman ~ Singer songwriter and performer - not working at Fusion, but the bosses wife... Needs no introduction! Cold finger ~ Producer / writer, keyboardist for Mojo & the Beatnicks and Chosen Family | A wonderful poem gifted by one of our manys, giving a customer's view on Fusion, starting with it's spirit of place in the Butcher Works Fusion In Sheffield Park’s south west, near Alsop Farm, Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk number nine, had noble fancies, Bath in mind, to build a residential quarter of some note. With agent, Vincent Eyre, and architects James Paine and Thomas Atkinson, he had a grid of streets imposed on patchwork fields between the growing town and River Sheaf, the land enclosed being squared up into plots. But ‘Sheffeld’ had no wealth to rival Bath, so Norfolk’s grand plan never left the ground, and bricks instead made home and place of work for ‘little mesters’ in the metal trades who welcomed space the crowded town denied. Soon cheek by jowl much bigger buildings rose with neighbour workshops round a central yard to integrate all stages of production - forgers, grinders, buffers and the rest. From such beginnings grew the Butcher Works between the lanes of Froggatt, Eyre and Brown and street called Arundel – that last named from the Sussex castle of the absent Duke. Post Waterloo to nineteen fifty nine, through war and peace, through empire, boom and slump, this meditative courtyard, empty now, with chimney cold and crowned with greenery, bore witness to much sweat and smoke and tales, amidst the clatter of the cutlery. And cutlery still clatters, though not made, but used in Ruskin Mill’s organic caff where something of the former bustle lives and echoes round the old and honest brickwork. Ruskin Mill’s an Education Trust that’s part of Freeman College, working with the Academy of Makers, and the caff was launched by Melvin Jarman and his team with four objectives on the starter plate: to make real work for Freeman College students; to choose organic wholesalers nearby; to serve up hand-made artisan ‘slow’ food; and last, not least, to come out in the black, but not for private gain but public good, all profits going back to Ruskin Mill. Fusion of the local and the global in flavour, fare and style, is paramount: so coffee beans are Arabica, singly- sourced and traded direct from Brazil, while lamb comes from a farm they own in Eyam. So call by day and try a salad platter, or have Welsh rarebit on a ciabatta. Try panini, pasty, croissant, quiche and watch the board for what’s a special dish. At night a three-course meal or canape is just the job to end a stressful day, with staff changed into evening mode and gear. All things must pass – enjoy it while it’s here! Dave Sissons |