Food, Nutrition & Support for Hospitality
While the Vintners’ Company has a long tradition of supporting those working in the hospitality industry, such as through its annual grant to The Drinks Trust, an increasingly urgent area of need is food poverty.
Rising living costs have pushed many families in London into hardship. Today, more than one in five adults in London face food insecurity, and 800,000 children live in poverty. Even before the cost-of-living crisis, Londoners were missing an estimated 10.2 million meals every month.
Examples of initiatives working in this important area include the food rescue charity City Harvest, which the Company has supported for the last three years, and more recently Kitchen Club which brings isolated families together to prepare healthy, low-cost food with additional early years activities for children and parents.
City Harvest
Rescuing food. Feeding communities. Reducing waste.
City Harvest is a leading food rescue charity, collecting surplus food from the food industry and redistributing it free of charge to charities supporting people in need. The charity works with over 375 organisations, including food banks, schools, hostels, community centres, refuges and faith groups.
What we fund
Over three years as a Favoured Charity, the Vintners’ Foundation supported City Harvest’s food distribution work across London, helping families facing the impossible choice between heating or eating.
2.6 million meals delivered across London
£4 million worth of food redistributed to frontline charities
2,706 tonnes of greenhouse gases diverted from landfill
Food was delivered using a jointly branded City Harvest / Vintners’ Company van, enabling partner organisations to redirect scarce funds towards other essential services.
The partnership also included a Vintners’ Volunteer Day, with members working alongside City Harvest staff at their Acton warehouse, packing and delivering food to communities across the capital.
Kitchen Club (Parent Club)
Bringing families together through food
Kitchen Club, delivered by Parent Club, brings socially isolated families together to cook and share healthy, low-cost meals, alongside early years activities for children and parents. The programme is designed to tackle hardship by building confidence, skills and resilience—not just filling plates.
In Hackney alone, over 3,000 families and 4,000 children live in temporary accommodation, many lacking access to cooking facilities or the knowledge and confidence to meet healthy eating guidelines.
What we fund
The Vintners’ Foundation supported the delivery of 37 Kitchen Club sessions over 12 months at St Peter De Beauvoir Community Centre in Hackney.
Over the year, the programme supported:
98 beneficiaries (48 adults and 50 children aged 0–5)
Weekly shared cooking sessions using affordable, nutritious ingredients
Early years activities including singing, reading and creative play
Families cooked, ate and learned together in a safe, supportive environment