The Chronicles of an Unconventional Café
How a small café in Sydney is creating a whole lot of good
Hey humans,
Welcome to another edition of Unconventional! This is Humans For Good’s new publication, where you can find innovative, inspiring and interesting ways that humans are changing the world around them.
Today, Abbie and I have decided to talk about third places – the informal, accessible spaces that exist outside of the home and work (from cafes, to libraries, to parks, to town squares). The loneliness epidemic is a real thing, and we believe that these are a part of the solution.
We hear from Ravi Prasad – the founder of an unconventional cafe called Parliament On King, that also happens to be a social enterprise, community hub and the definition of a third place. As an advertising professional turned social impact leader, Ravi has an unconventional life story himself, and lots of pearls of wisdom to share with us all.
As we want HFG events to be cosy, casual and inclusive for all kinds of humans (while also funding good causes), we choose to host our events in spaces like Parliament On King. Recently we brought 20 humans together here to share a meal, and talk about turning climate anxiety into action. We’re aiming to run more dinners and lunches at social enterprise cafes and restaurants in the future, so if you would like to join us, make sure to sign up as a HFG member and/or express your interest in these events.
You can also give us a follow on our new Instagram account to stay up to date about all things HFG, and check out our re-launched action database – a list of creative, practical ways to do good across a wide range of causes!
Enjoy Unconventional,
– Georgia 👋
A call for the return of third places
Hi, I’m Abbie — a Strategic Designer who spends her days untangling complex problems and designing more human, hopeful ways forward.
I’m a sucker for a third place. Somewhere to escape to from my home and the outside world with an atmosphere that lets you slink right in, chat to other humans (if you feel like it), and know that you belong there in that moment – whatever you’re there to achieve.
A third place isn’t a new concept. It’s a term coined back in 1989 by sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who believed that “psychological health depends upon community” and advocated that third places should welcome people from all walks of life and nurture informal, human interactions that are essential for democracy.
We’re living in a time when 1 in 3 Australians feel lonely and disconnected, so it’s great to see that third places have returned to popular discourse, with people calling on the government to protect and expand third places that have seemingly dwindled since the pandemic. We need to give young people somewhere else to go other than YoChi and TikTok!
Join us for this conversation with Ravi Prasad – humble as ever, despite his wealth of wisdom – about Parliament on King, his social-enterprise-cafe-meets-community-hub, where he hopes that everyone who walks through the door feels like they belong.
Introducing Parliament on King
I meet Ravi on a drizzly afternoon. He warmly welcomes me inside Parliament On King which, when free from the gentle bustle of King Street’s patrons – feels just like a cosy living room. Turns out, this is exactly what the space was originally, now covered floor-to-ceiling in books and dotted with sweet trinkets. He sits in front of a cream, slightly rusting Vespa – one of the many relics that has always caught my attention walking past the café. Of course, there’s a story behind it – something I quickly come to realise is true for many of the bits and pieces within the modest space.
When Ravi and his wife were dating, they’d drive round on said Vespa dreamily peering into corner shops in Surry Hills and the Inner West, visualising the day they’d own a bookshop cafe. It would only open on Sundays because they’d be working at their corporate jobs during the week.
“You look in the windows and think, oh, imagine the sweetness of that life and the calmness and the community – the gentleness of it all.”
After 19 years in the advertising world, Ravi found himself questioning his beliefs and priorities. But it wasn’t until a crisis for catharsis occurred when his newborn daughter was hospital-bound, that he and his wife, Della, decided it was time to make the jump.
And jump they did – into a world they knew virtually nothing about, but soon figured out.
"I didn’t know anything about hospitality. I thought I did because I worked in bars and stuff. Before having a cafe, I couldn’t use a coffee machine.”
The origins of their social mission
Ravi told me that he’d been interested in race, race relations and civil society as long as he can remember. Having been born in Adelaide to interracial parents – an Indian father who moved to Australia from Fiji towards the end of the White Australia policy, and a white mother who was arrested protesting the all-white Springbok Rugby Tour in ‘71 – his interest was a consequence of lived experience.
“So when it came to figuring out what to do with our little shop, I knew where I wanted to go. Back then, the discourse around asylum seekers and refugees revealed deeper challenges with race, race relations and civil society in Australia".
Once Ravi had got the hang of keeping the plates spinning in the cafe, he made a visit to the local asylum seeker centre.
After completing a certification in workplace training and education, he put together and pitched a short course to them to send a small cohort of asylum seekers and refugees for training, and employed them in the café.
Over time, Ravi got to know these people’s stories, and soon realised that not only was he working with smart, intelligent, capable humans, but ones that come from rich, deep food culture.
“And here I am showing a qualified eye surgeon from Syria how to make a sandwich. So I decided to flip it around. Let’s do food your way. Tell us what you want to make and how long it takes. We’ll put on dinners for locals to taste your food, connect with each other, share your stories if you wish.
Acknowledging that refugees often arrive to Australia carrying this heavy burden of what they have lost in a bid for a new life, he hoped that these dinners would allow them a chance to reconnect with and share their culture, integrate with community and be treated with respect. The experiment proved a success, and the dinners have become a mainstay in Parliament On King for 11 years, shortly after it opened.
Building a trust-first culture
Parliament On King has a certain air about it, a warm conviviality and a seemingly effortless charm. Staff that you can barely tell are staff because they’re chatting away with customers as if they’re old mates; customers chatting with other customers as if they’re old mates. Maybe it’s the feng shui, or simply how the furniture is imperfectly positioned to subconsciously signal mingling rather than dining.
“In the course of what I do, I meet some of the best people in the world. They were born good. Everyday they get up and they do good things. How did you get to be wonderful?”
With just one person out front servicing customers, Ravi found himself juggling multiple tasks at once. When his hands were occupied making sandwiches, he started directing regulars to the till to pay, asking them to calculate their own bill, place their money in the pot, and take their change. Acknowledging that this short-cut would likely cost him, he checked the pot a couple of weeks later and noticed that, in face, there was more money in there than he expected. And when he started asking all customers to pay themselves too, he noticed the same behaviour.
“What if we set up everything as if everybody was trustable and good? It’s worth that small risk of loss to enjoy your life where everybody is good. How beautiful.”
He references the book Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, which argues that humans are fundamentally kind and co-operative, and that embracing this view can lead to a better society.
Trust is not naive – it can be transformational.
Community-fuelled resilience
Like many small businesses, Parliament On King was rattled by the pandemic, but they took the opportunity to pivot with purpose. Foreseeing that food insecurity would escalate, Ravi and Della made the decision to make as many nourishing meals as they could afford to for those in need–and so their soup kitchen began.
Despite not operating as a business, they kept up the soup kitchen three nights a week, employing local refugees to cook and welcoming volunteers to support distribution. When they started to burn through their savings , the community showed up with solidarity in spades. Thanks to a crowd funder, a small grant and private donations, Parliament On King kept the kitchen alive – and to this day, it still serves the community every Saturday evening, with anywhere from 5-20 volunteers rocking up each week to help out.
“Everyone around us was like “we’ll help!” This literally only happened because of the community around this place. It’s very special.”
Small rituals, big ties
Ravi is, of course, humble about the impact he’s had on the community. Over the years, aside from the regular dinners, himself and Della have developed rituals like weekly life drawing classes, an intimate affair attracting non-artists and actual artists alike–sometimes so many they can barely fit in the space! But creativity isn’t limited in to their Thursday night; I’ve stopped by on a Sunday to see Ravi sketching away with a friend in the window-front, in amongst other customers.
They also previously have hosted speed dating and even had a “dating book” - polaroids taken of single cafe-goers or volunteers that people wrote testimonials about for other singletons to peruse, like an analog, community-driven dating app. Ravi even spoke of Parliament Babies that originated from connections developed in the space.
Some come to eat and drink, to come to work and make a living or find a moment of stillness.. Some to create, whilst others come to connect.
What is true to all of the goings – on in this unassuming spot on the softer side of King Street is that the small rituals create big ties to place, people and purpose, for people from all walks of life.
“So I think to myself, look, if I’ve done anything, any small thing – what I have done is simply created an opportunity for people to act upon the goodwill and love that’s in their hearts. Nothing bigger than that.”
💛 On being a good human
Finally, I asked Ravi what advice he would give to someone looking to make an everyday impact in their lives.
“Just do it – stop thinking about doing it. One person, one kind act at a time. The joy of being useful in the life of another person is immeasurable. Action creates its own momentum; that action is its own reward.”
How good.
👀 What can I do next?
Visit Parliament on King in Erskineville, Sydney to eat and drink (Saturdays and Sundays), draw (Thursday evenings), or volunteer (Saturday evenings)
Read Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, which argues that humans are fundamentally kind and co-operative, and embracing this view can lead to a better society
Dine at social enterprise restaurants and cafes like Kolkata Social, Kyiv Social, Refettorio OzHarvest or Into Coffee – or express your interest in HFG’s new Good Talk lunches and dinners, to do so with other good humans
How to get involved in HFG
Sign up for our Slack community to find social impact related opportunities, events, and to ask for and offer help
Express your interest in joining a six-person dinner or lunch club at a social enterprise near you
Check out our action database for creative, practical opportunities to do good across a wide range of causes
Give us a follow on Instagram or LinkedIn to stay up to date about the HFG community
A shoutout to today’s partner
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See you next time
We hope that you’re feeling inspired to explore third places like Parliament On King, and to do a little more good at home, at work, and in your community.
Thanks for joining us for today’s edition, and we look forward to seeing you around Humans For Good!
One of my favourite cafes in Sydney and really enjoyed learning more about the story behind it! Third spaces are so important