- Just Eat’s Winter Meal Appeal raises funds to provide over 1.2m meals following record customer donations
- In partnership with charities Social Bite and FoodCycle, funds will support low-income families and those facing hunger, loneliness and homelessness
Just Eat has today announced that since 2020, its annual Meal Appeal campaign has raised enough funds to provide over 1.2m meals to those in need. Now in its third year, the initiative encourages customers to raise money for Just Eat’s charity partners, FoodCycle and Social Bite to support low-income families and people facing food hunger, loneliness and homelessness.
The most recent campaign saw record customer donations, with over 600,000 individual customer donations made after ordering a meal on the food delivery app between November 2022 and February 2023, doubling the customer participation in previous years.
Just Eat kick-started the latest initiative with a £250,000 donation and gave its customers the chance to donate £1, £5 or £10 at checkout, with one hundred per cent of all proceeds raised going to Just Eat’s charity partners, Social Bite and FoodCycle.
Social Bite and FoodCycle work tirelessly to support the most vulnerable in society. With 69 projects across England and Wales, FoodCycle helps connect communities, reducing loneliness and food poverty by providing freshly cooked meals using surplus food waste. Social Bite is a movement to end homelessness, providing homes, jobs, support and food to those experiencing homelessness and food poverty in the UK.
In addition to hot meals, funds raised goes towards longer term projects to support those facing the threat of homelessness, food poverty and loneliness. Since the campaign began, proceeds have also supported Social Bite’s Jobs First programme; providing people affected by homelessness through the UK with real jobs and dedicated support, helped fund a new Social Bite Village being brought to Glasgow, which will offer high quality accommodation for residents to break the cycle of homelessness, as well as the opening of Social Bite’s enterprise coffee shops in London and Glasgow which provide job opportunities and free food for those in need.
The Meal Appeal campaign has also provided FoodCycle with the funding and support to open its doors to those in Wales for the first time, and investment in staff that will enable the charity to expand to 100 community projects by 2025. All the while helping FoodCycle continue to meet the rising demand for healthy, hot meals and social connections, which has been particularly important during the cost-of-living crisis. Customers’ generosity also enabled FoodCycle to restart their community projects across the UK after they were paused in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Each year Just Eat utilises its network as a force for good, drawing on its employees and delivery couriers to volunteer and fundraise too. Due to the sheer amount of donations and customers’ generosity, Just Eat extended the initiative to help more vulnerable people and its 2022-2023 campaign ended up nearly tripling their original target of 250,000 hot meals.
Many more people are at risk of homelessness and food hunger than ever before which is why campaigns like our annual Meal Appeal are so important. We’re overwhelmed at how generous our customers have been since it began back in 2020. Despite a tough winter, our most recent campaign saw customers donate in their thousands and we can’t thank them enough for their support. Together with our brilliant charity partners, Social Bite and FoodCycle, we’ve been able to make a meaningful difference and provide meals and funding to communities who need it most.Victoria Gold, UK and Ireland Marketing Director, Just Eat
‘We can’t thank Just Eat and their customers enough for their support over the last three years. Every single donation has made a difference by helping provide meals for people experiencing hardship at Christmas and throughout the winter in communities all over the UK, as well as supporting innovative longer-term projects helping people out of homelessness for good.Josh Littlejohn, Founder of Social Bite
Just Eat has been a partner of ours for many years now, and every year we continue to be amazed at just how generous their customers are. We’ve seen a big increase in vulnerable people coming to our community meals so the money raised will ensure we’re able to help even more people who are faced with food poverty and loneliness.Mary McGrath, CEO of FoodCycle
Just Eat in Ireland launched the campaign for the first time and encouraged customers to donate with funds raised going to the Peter McVerry Trust, a charity that provides essential housing for people experiencing homelessness. Alongside customer donations, Just Eat Ireland contributed a €50,000 donation with the funds raised enabling 10 new family homes across the country with furniture, soft furnishings and a first shop of groceries – helping provide families in need with a brighter future.
About Just Eat Takeaway.com
About Just Eat Takeaway.com
Just Eat Takeaway.com (LSE: JET, AMS: TKWY) is one of the world’s leading global online food delivery companies.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, the Company is focused on connecting consumers and Partners through its platforms. With 731,000 connected Partners, Just Eat Takeaway.com offers consumers a wide variety of choices from restaurants to retail.
Just Eat Takeaway.com has rapidly grown to become a leading online food delivery marketplace with operations in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Most recent information is available on our corporate website and follow us on LinkedIn and X.
Media: press@justeattakeaway.com
For more information please visit our corporate website: https://justeattakeaway.com