Pret A Manger backs Help The Hungry campaign by opening 10 shop kitchens close to NHS hospitals

Pret A Manger will on Thursday reopen 10 shop kitchens close to NHS hospitals and will reactivate food donations to Pret Foundation associates, including our appeal partner The Felix Project, as it throws its weight behind our Help The Hungry campaign.

The Independent’s Help The Hungry campaign supports the work going on across the UK to ensure everyone has enough to eat during the current crisis, backed by figures such as London mayor Sadiq Khan, Labour MP Jess Phillips and TV cook Nigella Lawson.

The Pret shops will be available for takeaway and delivery only and have been selected according to their proximity to key London hospitals including St Thomas’, Royal Brompton, University College Hospital, St George’s, St John & St Elizabeth and Moorfields Eye Hospital.

The chosen venues will open from 8am to 2pm and be run by 160 staff who have volunteered and who will operate under new safety standards with two-metre social distancing imposed at the back and front of house. Pret will offer NHS workers a 50 per cent discount for the rest of this month in a reinstatement of a deal announced before lockdown.

Pret chief executive Pano Christou said: “We have been hearing from NHS workers and hospitals that they want to be able to access fresh food. At the same time, the Evening Standard and Independent, via their Food For London Now appeal, and our homeless charity partners, have made it clear that more needs to be done to support vulnerable people through this epidemic. We have given careful thought to how Pret could rise to this challenge, ensuring that we do so safely and in line with government guidance.

“As of Thursday, 10 of our shop kitchens will open for takeaway and delivery only, offering a reduced range of Pret favourites, including our most popular sandwiches, salads and baguettes. This will give frontline healthcare workers better access to freshly prepared food.

“It will also allow us to get our supply chain up and running to donate food to homeless charities, and we will be donating 7,000 additional meals a week to our charity partners, including The Felix Project.”

The Pret boost comes in the wake of a worrying YouGov poll for The Food Foundation showing millions more people suffering food insecurity and hunger due to reduced income and isolation since lockdown.

The Felix Project has responded by ramping up food supplies to London’s vulnerable to 28 tons a day, the equivalent of 66,000 meals. Meanwhile, donations to our appeal in association with the Evening Standard, continue to gather pace and have now passed £1.6m, including more than £120,000 from over 900 members of the public.

The Independent is encouraging readers to help groups that are trying to feed the hungry across the country – find out how you can help here. Follow this link to donate to our campaign in London, in partnership with the Evening Standard.