Social enterprise Open Kitchen scoops national award for tackling food waste

A social enterprise based in Manchester has won a national accolade for its success in helping to combat food waste.

Not-for-profit catering company Open Kitchen MCR scooped the food waste initiative prize at the 2026 Food and Drink Federation Industry Awards.

Open Kitchen was honoured for combining its surplus-led catering model with education, using profits to fund hands-on community cooking programmes that teach people how to maximise food ingredients and reduce household waste.

Chief executive David Amesbury said: “Winning this award is a really proud moment for the Open Kitchen team and a testament to everyone’s hard work over the past year, in particular to bring the Food Education Programme to life.

“Ultimately, our aim is to tackle both food waste and food insecurity, as well as to redefine how people view surplus.

“The work we do in partnership with community groups and schools to that end is already rewarding, and it’s great to receive this national recognition from industry peers for the part we are playing in building long-term solutions.

“However, there is still a lot to be done to ensure nutrition and food security for current and future generations.”

Chefs at Open Kitchen, recruited from fine dining and Michelin backgrounds, repurpose edible surplus food collected from restaurants, supermarkets and businesses that would otherwise go to waste.

By combining the food with sustainably produced local and organic ingredients, they turn it into catering for corporate meetings and events, with all profits put back into the community. In the first half of 2026, Open Kitchen catered 556 events across Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire.

Any leftover ingredients are redistributed to community groups in the form of grocery parcels and basic provisions for families experiencing food insecurity or financial hardship.

In 2025, Open Kitchen repurposed 147.75 tonnes of surplus food into catering and redistributed 105 tonnes to food pantries and community grocery schemes, providing the equivalent of 250,000 meals.

It has also launched the Food Education Programme, which teaches primary school pupils practical cooking skills, raises nutrition awareness and builds confidence in the kitchen. The project is ahead of its target of reaching 2,340 children across 156 lessons this year.

Six hundred people attended the awards ceremony, which was held at The Troxy in East London and hosted by cookbook author and TV star Ravneet Gill.

The judging panel brought together leading experts from across the food and drink manufacturing sector, including senior business leaders, government representatives and technical and policy specialists.

In their citation, the judges said of Open Kitchen: “The team’s ambition and commitment to sharing their objectives and impact across the supply chain was evident. This is a small project making a big difference, both in resourcing surplus food and educating others.”

Founded in 2014, Open Kitchen has a team of nine based in Didsbury. The FDF accolade is the second for Open Kitchen so far in 2026, after it was named small social enterprise of the year at the Social Enterprise Lancashire Network Awards.