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Nando’s has announced the launch of a new food donation and employment programme entitled Fuel Your Future.
The initiative will see Nando’s restaurants across London, Birmingham, the North East and East Midlands serve free meals once a week to vulnerable young people and their families.
The programme aims to help with the immediate need for free meals, as well as support disadvantaged young people by providing employment opportunities.
The number of free meals served has doubled week-on-week since the scheme began in June, and more locations are signed up to participate in the coming weeks.
The dining chain now aims to donate over 15,000 free meals to disadvantaged young people across the UK by the end of the trial period, and plans to roll the programme out nationally with an aim to donate half a million meals a year.
It comes as Nando’s has worked closely with several external partners, including Family Action and their HeadStart programme, to support more than 200 young people in finding employment.
In 2020 alone, these partnerships have had a “positive impact” on 1,291 young people through employability workshops, training, support and career discovery days.
Over the last three years, young people from HeadStart, in partnership with Nando’s, have also volunteered nearly 40,000 hours in local communities as part of the scheme.
Looking ahead, Nando’s aims to create 500 new job placements across the business through Family Action’s HeadStart programme, and its other partnerships with Springboard, Remit, The Forward Trust and The Shaw Trust.
The opportunities will “pick back up in due course when the job landscape is a little clearer”. In the short term, there will be a stronger focus on work experience opportunities and mentoring for young people across the Nando’s business.
In a statement, the chain said: “Nando’s has a unique position as a brand to help this group and whilst job opportunities might be difficult at this moment due to Covid-19, we can put in place the structure to enable young people to have resilience and thrive through our Fuel Your Future programme.”
