Hilton has opened up enough kitchen space for Open Kitchens, enabling the initiative to double its output and provide 50,000 more free meals a month to those in need in the UK.

One in eight people in the UK has difficulty accessing regular food – a figure which continues to grow as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – whilst 250,000 tonnes of surplus edible food is thrown away annually.

Open Kitchens was forced to turn down huge quantities of food due to lack of storage capacity. In response, Hilton has stepped in to turn high-capacity hotel kitchens into regional Kitchen Hubs which will accept deliveries of up to 10 tonnes of surplus food per week.

The new Kitchen Hubs – situated at Hilton Birmingham Metropole, Hilton London Metropole, Hilton East Midlands Airport, Hilton Nottingham and Hampton by Hilton Sheffield, will store food before it is delivered to local restaurants for preparation and distribution.

The new model will empower Open Kitchens to feed an additional 50,000 people each month, taking its services into communities close to these cities – where previously a lack of nearby storage space for bulk deliveries had prevented it from operating at scale.

In addition to the Kitchen Hubs, Hilton London Metropole – Hilton’s largest hotel in the UK – will serve as a community kitchen.