Problem addressed

Despite a well-functioning labour market with high employment rates, certain groups in Sweden face a number of barriers to finding a job. In particular, formerly imprisoned people, people who have a disability or people with a migrant background, face stigmatisation when seeking employment. This, coupled with a lack of skills and experience, makes it harder for these groups to find and retain quality employment.

Innovative solution

Le Mat Sweden is a social cooperative hotel set up in 2010 in Göteborg City to employ people who have encountered difficulty joining the labour market. It specifically targets formerly imprisoned people, people who have a disability and older people. Le Mat Sweden proposes a holistic approach to inclusion. It has developed a recruitment partnership with social referral services, local authorities and employment services to offer relevant work-based training to people in need, ensuring they are provided with meaningful work. In recent years, Le Mat Sweden hostels, bed and breakfasts and hotel rooms have also been used as shelters for asylum seekers. This was a way of diversifying the Le Mat Sweden offer and helping as many disadvantaged people as possible.

Le Mat Sweden was initiated by a consortium partnership between Vägen Ut! (VU) and Coompanion. VU links 13 cooperatives together with a two-fold mission: they sell environmentally friendly products and services, while creating work for individuals who cannot enter the labour market. Coompanion is network of 25 local cooperative development agencies, which provide advice and training for cooperatives and social enterprises in Sweden. VU developed and implemented the primary Le Mat Sweden location in Göteborg City, with Coompanion continuing to expand the brand in additional locations. The revenue generated from hotel bookings and guests is reinvested into the brand.

Le Mat Sweden is part of a Europe-wide social franchising cooperative, Le Mat Europe. The cooperative’s roots are in Italy where, in Trieste in 1985, Hotel Tritone was established to provide meaningful employment and work-based training for people who had difficulties in securing work. In 2005, the social franchising cooperative Le Mat was set up to expand the work of the hotel across Italy, supported by the European Social Fund Community Initiative, EQUAL. Le Mat developed a brand, a management model, a franchising model and a quality management and training system. The subsequent creation of Le Mat Europe strengthened the Le Mat brand by setting up a European network to support new social entrepreneurs in replicating the Le Mat model in other countries. Le Mat Europe was one of the first social franchises to operate hostels, hotels and bed and breakfasts throughout Europe. Each location abides by national social enterprise laws and incorporates pre-established social values, such as employing disadvantaged groups, promoting the local community or operating in an environmentally friendly manner. They must be cost effective, meaning that they have to be able to cover all of their costs, in addition to investing in the maintenance of the buildings and development of new services.

Key results and benefits

Since 2010, approximately 100 people have been employed or have undertaken work training thanks to Le Mat Sweden. Across the 3 locations in Sweden, there are 23 full-time employees. Since Le Mat Sweden’s establishment in 2010, Coompanion has created three additional locations in Göteborg City, Akersberga and Jonsereds Fabriker.

Currently, Le Mat Europe has established hotels in Italy and Sweden and supported the establishment of hotels under other brands in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Poland.

Potential for mainstreaming

The Le Mat model has already proven to be one that can be replicated in other contexts, thanks to Le Mat Europe. Each franchising cooperative within the Le Mat Europe brand benefits from knowledge sharing within the brand. Le Mat Europe also helps existing businesses that operate in the tourism sector by offering consultancy advice on how to ensure the quality of the services provided and how to establish and promote the identity and brand of the business. A large proportion of Le Mat Europe revenue comes from the consultancy services offered to organisations that are interested in joining the social franchise. This further supports its transfer potential.

Le Mat Sweden has benefitted from the European Social Fund which provided funding to secure a location and train employees. Le Mat Sweden implementing partners hope to expand into more cities around Sweden but no public agreements have been finalised yet to confirm these locations. The future expansion of Le Mat Sweden is dependent on securing funding and on the availability of a suitable building.

Le Mat Sweden has collated its knowledge and experience into a set of manuals and training tools with the aim of encouraging the creation of more tourism-focused social cooperatives. The tools include guidelines on governance, management, training and the practicalities of running a social cooperative within the tourism industry. These tools can support the transfer of Le Mat Sweden to different contexts.

Le Mat’s practices in Sweden were recognised as good practice by the European Parliament for their role as a social enterprise improving the social economy. Moreover, the Jonsereds Fabriker location received the Golden Label Excellence Award in 2017 from the European Network of Cities and Regions for Social Economy (REVES).