500,000 free meals to reach NHS workers via Deliveroo

Deliveroo is aiming to make 500,000 meals available for free to NHS workers, having also received 350,000 donated meals from restaurants.

Pizza Hut has led the donation, pledging 300,000 meals (including pizza, pasta, salads and other options) to support NHS workers from its 700 outlets across the UK, via Deliveroo.

Deliveroo’s national delivery platform is also updating its app, enabling customers to donate funds and buy a meal for a doctor or nurse.

“Those in the NHS working night and day to save lives are the real heroes of this crisis, and we want to do our small part to support them and the vulnerable who aren’t able to leave their homes,” comments Deliveroo founder Will Shu.

“Thanks to our dedicated riders, the generosity of our restaurant partners and their teams who are keeping kitchens open to serve those most in need, we hope to be able to make a difference.

“Deliveroo is a British business and, as the founder, nothing would make me more proud than to use the network we have built to support the NHS, and I know the restaurant sector wants to play its part too.”

Other meal donations include substantial offers from German Doner Kebab, Itsu, Lewis Hamilton’s plant-based Neat Burger restaurant and others.

Pizza Hut has also donated funding to help cover the cost of deliveries.

“Pizza Hut is committed to doing what is right during these difficult times and using our 700 Huts across the UK to make a difference,” says Neil Manhas, general manager of Pizza Hut UK.

“That is why we have pledged 300,000 free meals to our NHS heroes over the next eight weeks in partnership with Deliveroo.

“We’re proud of the compassion shown by our team members and franchisees and will continue to support them, our delivery network and communities across the UK during this time.”

Other meal donations include substantial offers from German Doner Kebab, Itsu, Lewis Hamilton’s plant-based Neat Burger restaurant and others. Pizza Hut has also donated funding to help cover the cost of deliveries.

Deliveroo hopes to deliver to NHS sites where there is a need for food, whether hospitals, primary care sites or field hospitals, for example sites such as the new Nightingale Hospital at the ExCel centre.

Meals will be available over time as Deliveroo works with individual hospitals to identify where need is greatest, raise funds and gives restaurants across the UK the chance to donate meals; meals will be made available where Deliveroo provides coverage.

While the majority of meals delivered will go to the NHS, Deliveroo will also continue to deliver free food to the vulnerable during this period, for example, St Mungo’s and other charities, delivering meals to homeless people sheltered in hotels in London, and will continue to support such organisations and those in need.