A TikTok star has completed his challenge of turning a vacant retail unit into a vibrant café in Newbury town centre using just £300 in 30 days.
Max McCann is a 28-year-old social media influencer from Tadley whose TikTok account @mealswithmax teaches people how to make healthy and budget-friendly food and it has more than 2 million followers on the video platform.
A month ago, Max took over an empty Kennet Centre unit with the hopes of transforming it into a community hub and sustainable business on a small budget.
He successfully completed his challenge and celebrated the accomplishment with a party at McCann’s Coffee Shop on Saturday, May 11.
Max said: “It was amazing. The whole day was really, really good.
“We were pretty busy throughout the whole day and everyone seemed to have loads of fun which was awesome.
“I’m just really happy with how things have gone. I never expected it to turn out as well as it has done.
“I haven’t had any days off and I’ve been working really hard on it, but I still didn’t think we would be where we are now in just 30 days, so I am really pleased.”
The party featured live music and entertainment throughout the day, and the coffee shop was officially opened by 74-year-old Maggie, a McCann’s regular who had been visiting the café every day since it first opened up a month ago.
She cut the ribbon at 10am which signalled the start of the party, and a crowd of Newburians poured underneath the balloon arch and through the doors to get their coffees, cakes and take part in the day’s activities.
Max always envisioned his coffee shop being a space for people to meet, chat and make friends, and he was glad that his business was able to help combat loneliness amongst local people.
He also said that the café’s foodbank donation tables were “overflowing” by the end of Saturday, and he has already handed over all the contributions to West Berks Foodbank along with a £500 cash donation.
McCann’s customers are encouraged to pay forward for coffee and food items that will then be given to those in need, and the coffee house has currently given away just shy of 4,000 vouchers to the foodbank and Newbury Soup Kitchen.
McCann’s already donates a proportion of its profits to West Berks Foodbank and it will soon do the same to Newbury Soup Kitchen as well.
Despite all the progress he’s made so far, Max isn’t done with his coffee shop yet.
He said: “It was essentially a proof of concept to see if we could do it, how well it turns out and if it is something we can roll out at other places throughout the UK.
“Even off of the first month, the impact we have managed to make is amazing but there are communities that are struggling throughout the whole of the UK and if there was one of these in each town and city I think that would make a massive difference.”
