Hilton has partnered with Open Kitchens to help double the amount of community meals which the social enterprise can make from surplus food.
The hotel group has opened up its kitchens at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, Hilton London Metropole, Hilton East Midlands Airport, Hilton Nottingham and Hampton by Hilton Sheffield, to accept deliveries of up to ten tonnes of surplus food per week.
Hilton said the amount of surplus food being made available to foodbanks and charities has increased “exponentially” due to falling demand from restaurants and caterers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The group said Open Kitchens had been having to turn down “huge quantities of food due to lack of storage capacity”, but much of it can now be accepted and stored in Hilton’s “high-capacity hotel kitchens, which usually cater for large-scale conferences and events”.
This in turn has enabled Open Kitchens to double its output, and provide 50,000 additional meals per month for those in need. For more information on the Open Kitchens initiative – which has so far partnered with 37 kitchens and provided over 120,000 free meals, visit openkitchens.co.uk.