Appeal for Hemel restaurants to support Open Kitchens and help those in need

A non-profit institution is looking for restaurants in Hemel Hempstead to support them in providing meals for the vulnerable and key workers during the coronavirus crisis.

Open Kitchens uses closed restaurant kitchens to provide free, nutritious meals for the vulnerable, elderly and key workers.

Over £12,000 has been raised nationally, any donations made are a necessity to cover the essential running costs for each Open Kitchen with every £1.85 donated being enough to provide a single, restaurant-quality meal.

The planned initiative has already received high levels of interest from restaurant owners across the UK wanting to do their bit and now Open Kitchens is looking for restaurants in Hemel Hempstead willing to make a pledge to help them feed those in need.

Managing Director of Open Kitchens, Alex Grundy said: “What’s great about our model is the simplicity!

"We’re tapping in to latent surplus capacity across two main pillars in the eco-system, that’s kitchens (supply of meals) and drivers/vehicles (distribution) lying dormant right across the UK.

"Our platform connects the supply, distribution and demand (charities and vulnerable individuals), real-time by leveraging technology and an army of good will from our team of volunteers.

"The pilot in Nottingham has been a huge success and we’ve had some amazing words of appreciation, we’ve delivered 3,000 meals and our funding has gone from £200 a day to £4,000 a day, now at a total of £30,000 that’s over 16,000 meals and without any pro-active marketing.

"We are now at a point to scale nationally. We have restaurants (plus distribution and beneficiaries) on stand-by which are ready to cook free meals, but it’s all dependent on donations coming in at £1.85 per meal, so the more traction we are able to get, the more people we can help.”

George Ktori, who runs Greek restaurant Yamas in Nottingham, said: “When Open Kitchens came to me, I was immediately on board. It’s important to help in these times and feed those who need it most.

"We’ve got the equipment and the talented chefs, to volunteer their time and cook fresh meals for those who don’t have access to them.”

“We just hope that we’ll be able to drum up enough support in the way of donations and volunteers, to continue to make this fantastic idea a reality.”

You can donate as an individual or organisation by visiting: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/openkitchensuk.

For more information about Open Kitchens visit: www.openkitchens.co.uk.

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