Deliveroo – the UK’s leading food delivery company – has announced it has ramped up efforts to support staff at thousands of NHS vaccine sites across the country with a new ‘Lunch for Lifesavers’ food delivery programme, which will see the company deliver hundreds of thousands of free meals to staff and volunteers.
The new ‘Lunch for Lifesavers’ programme is supported by Deliveroo partners such as BP, who have generously donated 250,000 free meals and food including sandwiches, salads, soft drinks and snacks.
Over the coming weeks, with further donations from partners wagamama, Pizza Hut, Morrisons – from two of their Market Kitchens, and Tortilla, Deliveroo will be delivering hundreds of thousands of free meals and food to vaccine sites in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford and Sheffield.
Since the beginning of January, Deliveroo has been delivering free meals to St John’s Ambulance training centres in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Brighton, London and Birmingham, where over 30,000 clinical volunteers are preparing to support the mass rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.
To show continued support for NHS frontline workers, Deliveroo has also been working closely with much-loved restaurants including Dishoom, Eggslut, Nando’s, Pizza Hut and Rosa’s Thai, to deliver thousands of free meals to NHS frontline workers at hospitals in Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Oxford and Sheffield.
Will Shu, CEO Deliveroo, said: “As the vaccine rollout increases at impressive speed, giving hope to so many across the country, we want to do our small part to show our enormous gratitude to the volunteers and NHS staff working night and day to keep people safe. That’s why we are launching ‘Lunch for Lifesavers’ with the support of our amazing restaurant partners to deliver hundreds of thousands of free meals to vaccine centres across the UK. As a British business, nothing makes me prouder than to use the restaurant and logistics network we have built to support the frontline heroes of this pandemic.”
Matt Hancock, secretary of state for health and social care, said: “The incredible staff and volunteers delivering covid-19 vaccines across the country deserve all of our support. I know just how valued access to meals were in the first wave, so I want to thank Deliveroo for the launch of ‘Lunch for Lifesavers’ and continuing that invaluable support.”
Bernard Looney, bp chief executive said: “A year into this crisis, it continues to take a heavy toll on our neighbours and our nation. This latest initiative allows us to use our resources and reach across the country to support essential services and the people who are working around the clock to keep us all safe. The UK has been our home for over a century and we feel it’s important that we do our bit to help.”
