THOSE doughty opponents of food waste Real Junk Food Manchester are evolving into Open Kitchen MCR on the back of a crowdfunding campaign that kicks off on Wednesday, August 29.
£50,000 is their target to open the city’s first waste food catering social enterprise. It will be based in a currently unused commercial kitchen at social housing provider Onward Homes in Chorlton.
From there they will offer a range of outside catering services to corporate and private clients, all using food that would otherwise go to waste.
Director Corin Bell told us: “The core of the project’s mission remains the same… but that mission is evolving. We’re amazingly proud of having opened and operated Manchester’s first waste food pay-as-you-feel restaurant for a year. We’re sad that our time in this
temporary site has come to an end, but we’re ready to do more.
“The new venture will use a different type of economic sharing model. Rather than pay-as-you-feel, which operated at the restaurant, Open Kitchen MCR will offer a range of pricing packages that will mean corporate customers will subsidise our work with community and charity partners.”
The Real Junk Food Cafe in Oxford Street closed recently after 50 weeks when it stopped 34,339 kilos of food from going to waste and served 29,128 meals. The Open Kitchen MCR aims to “stop more food waste, reduce the city’s carbon footprint, help more vulnerable people and offer training and back to work support for them.”