Food for London: D&D restaurant group backs our food waste fight

D&D London today became the first restaurant group to back our campaign tackling food waste and hunger in the capital.

The group, which owns more than 30 restaurants including Paternoster Chop House near St Paul’s and Quaglino’s in Mayfair, pledged to give £50,000 to the Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund, with most of it going to help fund the Food for London open grants programme, taking the total grants pot to £320,000.

Together with funds raised last week of more than £800,000 for our flagship, The Felix Project, which delivers fresh surplus food from suppliers to charities that feed the hungry, it takes the total raised by our campaign in nine days to more than £1.15 million.

D&D London plans to raise the £50,000 donationby adding an optional £2 donation to customer’s’ bills in their restaurants for two months starting in November.

The group, which incorporates the food empire founded by Sir Terence Conran, also intends to advertise the Food for London key message — that surplus food should be repurposed or donated to help people in need — at all outlets across the group across their restaurant group.

Paul Jenkins, D&D’s purchasing director of D&D London, said: “London has been good to us so we feel likewe have a responsibility to give back. Fundamentally we are a London business but we are also a food business so supporting the Food for London campaign feels like a natural fit.

"We have always believed that good, nutritious food should be for everybody, regardless of income, and so we also relish the opportunity to work with The Felix Project, not just with our own food surplus, but also with that of our London-based suppliers.”

From this week, charities, community groups and social enterprises tackling food waste or using fresh food to address hunger are invited to apply for grants of up to £20,000. Applications must be received by November 11 and will be handled by The London Community Foundation, the charity that manages the Dispossessed Fund.

Meet the panel leading debate at our food forum

The Evening Standard today invites  readers to a food forum at which a panel of campaigners, chefs and industry leaders will seek solutions to the hot topic of wasted food and hunger in London. 

Our expert panel includes broadcaster and chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, campaigner Tristram Stuart, Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe, chef Ruth Rogers, waste charity Wrap’s director Richard Swannell, and Jenny Costa, founder of sustainable food brand Rubies in the Rubble. Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has endorsed our Food for London campaign, will open the event and Sarah Sands, editor of the Evening Standard, will chair and field questions.

A limited number of free tickets are available to Londoners for the October 10 event and will be reserved on a first-come-first-serve basis. Only those who book tickets in advance will be allowed entry. The event is supported by restaurant group D&D London. To  apply for your ticket now, go to: standard.co.uk/foodforum

Food Forum: 7pm to 8.30pm on Monday October 10 at King’s College, Franklin-Wilkins building, Waterloo Campus, 150 Stamford Street, SE1 9NH. Doors open at 6.30pm. Admission is free but strictly ticket-only.

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