Andy Harris, managing director of RA, said the partnership would see the caterer become Kids Company’s community food and nutrition champion, drawing on its industry expertise, contacts and market insights to improve the quality of food services the charity currently provides.
RA will provide Kids Company with training in health and safety, nutrition and finance. It will also provide work experience and apprenticeships for young adults from Kids Company’s urban academy in Bermondsey – an accredited education and life skills centre for more than 220 16 to 23 year olds.
Harris said: “I’m really proud of our partnership with Kids Company and I’m thrilled that we’re able to build on the foundations of the support we’ve provided over the past two years.
“By utilising our skills, resources, industry knowledge and contacts, we are able to play our part in supporting the thousands of children Kids Company help each year.”
Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder and director of Kids Company added: “Kids Company feeds 3,000 vulnerable children a week, with the majority of them depending on us for their main meal.
“Without the support of friends like Restaurant Associates we just couldn't meet their needs. As Kids Company’s exclusive community food and nutrition champion, Restaurant Associates has committed to lead from the front, using their skills, resources and passion for quality to help us provide nutritious meals and cherish society’s most disadvantaged and vulnerable children who would otherwise go hungry.”
Supporting Kids Company formed a big part of RA’s corporate responsibility strategy, said Harris.
For the past two years RA has enabled over 4,000 children and their families to enjoy a festive feast on Christmas Day by donating an array of ingredients to Kids Company.
It also supplied and hand-packed over 2,500 additional meals in the form of food hamper that reach over 7,500 people during the festive period.