Originally published by Mastercard
Abdul Karim Bangura arrived in Athens from Sierra Leone 14 years ago, armed with just a few words of Greek and determined to build a new life for himself in the Mediterranean capital.
But as he struggled to learn the language, he realized he had little hope of continuing the sales career he had started back home. He had to take low-paying jobs, first as a cleaner and then as an untrained kitchen assistant, to make ends meet.
Then he spotted a Facebook post from the nonprofit Odyssea offering free food industry training courses for people from marginalized communities. In Greece, two in five young people are unemployed, according to the organization, which works to bridge the gap between education and employment for those in need, including people with disabilities, the homeless, former drug users, and migrants like Bangura.
Spotting a promising opportunity, Bangura signed up for the program, known as ReStart by Mastercard, to get the qualifications needed to improve his job prospects.
After learning food safety and hygiene and cooking skills, Bangura became one of the 200 people to complete the ReStart program, set up by Odyssea, and began work at Kykloi by Priceless, Mastercard’s new restaurant in Athens’ vibrant Kerameikos district.
He’s now one of 12 ReStart graduates working as kitchen assistants and waiters at the restaurant, where Michelin-starred chef Pavlos Kiriakis’ menu offers a fresh take on sustainable, modern Mediterranean cuisine.
“I feel excited working alongside professional chefs,” Bangura says. “It’s been a great experience for me so far.”
Athens’ deep-rooted food culture made it the ideal place for Mastercard to open Kykloi by Priceless, its first restaurant in Greece, serving locally sourced dishes such as red sea bream with potato confit and calamari with the salty cured fish roe known as tarama. Like Mastercard’s other Priceless restaurants that dot the globe, Kykloi aims to connect with diners more deeply by offering unique multisensory experiences, including guest chef master classes and molecular mixology workshops. But Kykloi is Mastercard’s first purpose-driven restaurant.
The meaning of Kykloi — the Greek word for “circles” — is incorporated into the airy minimalist style created from natural materials to stand out in a city whose rich culinary heritage is celebrated everywhere from side-street souvlaki joints to sleek vaunted venues.
“For us, Kykloi symbolizes the circle of food,” says Loukia Chorafa, head of marketing and communications for Mastercard Greece, Cyprus and Malta. “From soil to plate, the table-sharing experience, the circle for people in ReStart finding a job — it’s the circle of life.”
But Kiriakis and the Priceless team wanted Kykloi to have an impact that would go beyond its food and design: to serve as a blueprint for restaurants to incorporate social inclusion and give people the skills they need to get ahead.
Because restaurants frequently struggle to get the trained, professional chefs, waiters and assistants they need, investing the time and effort to develop staff would also help them bridge the gap.
Since its opening in July, Kykloi — inspired by the circle theme of the Mastercard logo — has quickly become a favorite among Athenians and the many tourists who visit the city as much for its cuisine as for its ancient landmarks.
The early success of ReStart shows that the social inclusion program is a component that could easily be integrated into future Priceless restaurants in cities around the world and serve as an industry benchmark, Chorafa says.
So far, nearly all of the ReStart graduates — including migrants from 29 countries — have found jobs in Athens thanks to the technical skills, confidence and contacts they gleaned from the program. The next phase will look to engage young Greeks who face difficulties getting jobs due to factors such as disabilities or time spent in institutions.
For people like Bangura who’ve struggled to get ahead for years, signing up to ReStart and working at Kykloi has offered them the chance to thrive in the country they now call home, and finally square the circle.
“This will mean I have a better, more stable life here in Athens for me and my family,” he says.
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