Restaurant Sufra is a catering cooperative that Dima Hassouneh and I started together, growing out of Buurthuis de Bol, Amsterdam Noord. The idea is to create jobs through good food and so strengthen the neighbourhood. My role focuses on figuring out what is needed to start and run the business, finding partners, photographing the beautiful creations coming out of the kitchen, and researching and designing our membership and governance structure.
since 2025
Sufra means “table that is set for a meal” in Arabic. It began as a monthly community kitchen, where people from the neighbourhood would gather around music and food. Many different women took part by cooking and sharing recipes from Iran, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, and Eritrea, among others, under Dima’s wing.
We wanted to build on these talents through the principles of Community Wealth Building and founded a workers cooperative. This means that the people who work in Restaurant Sufra are also the ones who own it. Jobs, skills, and income stay local, instead of flowing out to external companies. We often work with people who are on welfare, and making the step into paid employment can be a big threshold to cross. That is why we try to secure steady, regular assignments with clients who have a social mission, so we can offer stable jobs, especially for people for whom stability really matters.
Working on Sufra was my first step into other cooperatives, not housing but work. Governance is similar but the purpose is different. It made me see how collective organising and ownership can strengthen local economies, starting from everyday work in the kitchen and extending into city-wide collaboration with the municipality and a rising broader movement of cooperatively owned businesses.
