Deliveroo, the UK’s leading food delivery company, has today announced that it will deliver free hot meals to the 1,700 students who have to self isolate at Manchester Met University halls due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases.
Will Shu, the CEO and founder of Deliveroo, felt personally moved to support the students after reading about their challenging situation.
The free meals have been donated by Wagamama, Franco Manca, Fridays, Barburrito and YO! Sushi and deliveries will begin from tomorrow.
Manchester Met has been particularly affected by the lockdown measures affecting student accommodation.
The free meals will be delivered by Deliveroo for Business, the corporate arm of Deliveroo, who can deliver large numbers of meals at a time in vans. Thousands of free meals were delivered to the NHS by Deliveroo this way earlier this year.
During the pandemic, Deliveroo has made sure that the public can receive the food they need and want. This is especially important as the country faces further restrictions and online slots for supermarket chains are booked up weeks in advance.
To respond to customer demand, the company introduced 16 new on-demand partnerships during the pandemic to ensure that people can receive the essential items they need and want. There are 7 in Manchester covering a range of food, groceries, essential items and over the counter medication: Morrisons, Aldi, Co-Op, McColls, Shell, Lloyds Pharmacy and Holland and Barrett. All of these are available for students in Manchester to order from via the Deliveroo app.
Will Shu said, “At Deliveroo we want to make sure that people can access the food they need and want. We know it’s a tough time for these self-isolating students who will be missing out on a lot of experiences they had looked forward to. Together with our amazing restaurant partners who have donated the free food, this is our small way of helping them out.”