Macclesfield is at the heart of our story. It’s where our great, great grandfather put down his Italian roots and set up shop with the support of the local community. All kinds of people, from farmers to mill workers to silk manufacturers worked alongside him to build the business.

Even though we’re now a long established part of the town, we still feel a debt of gratitude to Macclesfield for our place in the landscape. That’s why we like to do our bit for the community and employ local people if we can - we currently have over 100 staff who live in Macclesfield and the surrounding area.

We love to do our bit for the community, whether that's supporting the local football team in any way we can - we're on their shirts and we're often on the touchline too - or doing our bit for our local charities, we love to get involved. If you pop into the store, every now and again you'll find our staff all kitted out to raise money. To name a few, we've dressed up as superheroes for Cash4Kids, dressed in red for the British Heart Foundation Wear Red campaign and even sported pink from head to toe for Breast Cancer Awareness.

Alongside our local charities, we also do a lot to help the East Cheshire Hospice. Close to our hearts the East Cheshire Hospice is a hugely loved and admired local charity providing care and support for adults with life-limiting illnesses, along with their families. Staffed by specialist doctors, nurses and support staff, the Hospice provides round the clock care for over 300 patients every year.

As a registered charity, all their services are provided completely free of charge to patients, but as the Hospice receives less than 20% of its funding from the government, the remainder has to be found independently through donations. And that’s where we come in, working with others to try and find ways to plug the gap in any way we can.

Rossendale Trust - March 2017

Here at Arighi Bianchi, we have been supporting the Rossendale Trust WorkTaste scheme.

Through the Rossendale Trust WorkTaste initiative, local businesses and community projects are recruited to host short workplace opportunities. These are supported 1:1 by trained Rossendale staff, who record progress, encouraging individuals in consolidating and developing their skills, whilst creating a portfolio which can be shared with prospective hosts at interview.

We recently hosted Fiona Mason, a resident at the Rossendale trust. She joined our Creative and Marketing Team for a 4-week placement, where she helped our team with various aspects. This gave Fiona an insight into how we market the company and what structure we have in place here.

“I set Fiona various tasks, from designing a poster to promote our Mothers Day menu, to creating and writing a trend report, says Louise Knight, Marketing Manager. She was totally committed from week one, and even though she was nervous, she overcame her fears, and was a great asset to the team”

The WorkTaste scheme at the Rossendale Trust offers one to one support to clients on work placements. A client is matched with a WorkTaste Coach and they work together for 2- 3 hours per week at the client's chosen organisation.

One of our WorkTaster’s Fiona’s has written a blog about her experience:

I am in my last week of a 4-week placement at Arighi Bianchi. I felt happy when I started here but did feel a little bit nervous. During my first week, I did a poster to raise awareness of the Mothers’ day menu. I also did a flower house opening press release. This was to advertise the new store. 

I met Nick Bianchi last week, we talked about the colours that are on trend. I showed him the work I have been doing here. I searched for colours that are on trend at the moment. I chose pink, blue and green. I used Paint and learned how to crop pictures and copy and paste them. I found pictures of bathrooms, bedrooms and living rooms and matched them to these colours.

I can take the skills I have learned here and use them at new placements in the future. My Confidence has increased since I started here. I don’t feel nervous anymore. I have enjoyed working with the office staff. I would like to do another placement here one day. - Fiona Mason