A POPULAR chicken restaurant chain has named a Basingstoke food donation project as its charity of the year.   

Nando's is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its food donation programme and it has chosen The Community Food Link Distribution Project in Basingstoke to be this year's chosen charity. 

The project has been collecting leftover food from the Nando’s restaurants at St Michael’s and Festival Place since October 2022, with a collection rate of 95 per cent.

The charity uses the food to help low-income and vulnerable people in the local community.

Penny Dilley, from The Community Food Link Distribution Project, said: “It is an honour to be named Charity of the Year.

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“Alongside the variety of food we collect from supermarkets, it is great to collect cooked chicken from Nando’s.

“It is very popular at our distribution hubs with families who otherwise are unable to afford meals out. Our volunteers who collect from Nando’s also report that the Nando’s staff are always pleased when we collect and know the food is not going to waste.”

The charity collects food that would have been left at the end of the day and delivers it to hubs around Basingstoke, including but not limited to: Basingstoke Baptist Church, URC church and Community Café, Westside Community Centre, Costello School, Melrose Christian Community, Church of the Good Shepherd, Salvation Army, Lighthouse and St Bernards, Oakridge.

No Chuckin’ Our Chicken is a food donation program created by Nando’s in 2013, with an ethos of ‘refusing to waste food when people are going hungry’, according to their website.

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Adrian Grzybowski, general manager of Nando’s Basingstoke St Michael’s, said: “I am thrilled that The Community Food Link Distribution Project and the work we have been doing in supporting them has been recognised.

“The impact that this charity has on the local area is phenomenal and it is a real privilege to be able to play a part. I am looking forward to continuing our work with the team at the Community Food Link, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this partnership.”

The programme operates in every Nando’s restaurant across the UK and Ireland with daily donations to local charities, community groups, food banks and soup kitchens.

4.3 million meals have been donated to charities and community groups across the UK and Ireland since 2013, with more than 500,000 meals in six months, according to Nando’s UK.