A Manchester health food eatery has announced it will be helping to feed the region’s most vulnerable through meal donations.
KBK – based in Ancoats – is planning to donate 3,000 children’s meals to food poverty relief charity and foodbank provider FareShare GM, which will be distributed over these next two weeks and during February half term to families in need across Greater Manchester.
The first 500 meals will be dropped off this Saturday to FareShare GM’s HQ in New Smithfield Market, and the delivery will include dishes such as Italian Meatballs and Spaghetti, and Chicken Tikka with Basmati Rice.
The popular brand and restaurant – which specialises in health food, and also provides meal prep, and juice and soup cleanse services from its Great Ancoats street site – has made the decision decided to lend a hand following “a turbulent few weeks in parliament”, with various U-turns from the government around feeding children both in and out of school.
KBK said it is “more important than ever for us to look after each other and offer the support we can to families who are struggling during this time”.
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The restaurant took to social media last week to seek out a charity to partner with.
“We’ve seen the news this week and we want to do our bit to help,” KBK said, “if you know of a charity who we can contact, please [let us know].”
After deliberating upon the best charity to provide the donations to, KBK decided that the Marcus Rashford-endorsed charity FareShare – which has been operating for over 25 years – would be the most suitable, as the initiative has been working around the clock and around the nation to distribute food to families who need it most.
As many Mancunians will know, Wythenshawe-born Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford has been working with the charity since 2020.
He has so far raised enough money to enable FareShare to distribute 12.3 million meals to UK families.
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“Given what has taken place this year, FareShare seemed the perfect organisation [for us] to get behind.” KBK admitted.
Speaking more on the decision to make the meal donations, James Anderson – Operations Director at KBK- said: “We feel incredibly fortunate that we are in a position to contribute, in even a small way, to supporting Manchester’s families during what is a very difficult time.
“No child should go hungry and it is our job as a community to ensure this does not happen.”
KBK
KBK has been operating in Manchester for over 5 years now, and having started out with just one store in Ancoats, the business has grown with the city and the team has said they can think of no better time than now to show its appreciation to the people of the community.
The bottomless BBQ meat feast with endless pints, cocktails and wine
Georgina Pellant
A restaurant in Manchester is serving up a bottomless BBQ meat feast with non-stop drinks, and we’re just a little bit obsessed.
Red’s True Barbecue has long been a fixture in Manchester for fans of barbecued meats, but now we all have an extra reason to go: namely, the new Christmas BBQ meat feast.
Served on a giant bin lid, which is actually a lot more appetising than it sounds (don’t worry the lid is clean, we checked), it’s designed to be shared between groups of two or four.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
As part of the feast, you’ll be treated to heaps on heaps of chicken and pork, plus 90 (or 120) minutes of endless pints, festive cocktails, fizz, and wine.
Priced from £48.95 per person, for that you’ll be treated to pork ribs, pulled pork stuffing balls, turkey breast, cheese and jalapeno stuffed sausages, meat pit beans, unholy BBQ XXXL wings, cornbread, mashed potato, fries, onion rings and giant pots of gravy and cranberry sauce.
And that’s not all. There are also the bottomless drinks to consider, with options including pints of lager and cider, plus prosecco, red and white wine and festive cocktails.
On the festive cocktail front, choices abound with everything from steaming mugs of hot gin and apple to Red’s take on a pornstar martini.
The cocktail menu also features a bacon-washed old fashioned, smoked negroni and chocolate orange espresso martini, with more tempting options including the likes of the Candy Hi Ball (made with raspberry vodka, pink gin, candyfloss, lemon and cotton candy) and a chilli and mango margarita.
Elsewhere, drinkers will find pints of Goose Island IPA, Bud Light and Magner’s Cider on draught, as well as glasses of red and white wine included in the deal.
Popular London bakery Gail’s to open string of North West cafes next year
Georgina Pellant
Popular craft bakery Gail’s has hinted at plans to open a string of new cafes in the North West next year.
The group, which already has a large number of bakery-cafes in the south of England, has announced it will open its first North West site in Wilmslow in early 2023.
Bosses have also said that ‘further locations in the North West’ will be announced in the new year, adding that all the new bakeries will serve GAIL’s artisan sourdough breads, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes alongside its specialty House Blend coffee.
The news also seems to potentially confirm speculation that the brand is planning a move into Manchester after The Manc shared news of potential plans for a Gail”s opening in the city centre in October.
Having already seen planning documents that suggest the chain is planning to take over the former White Stuff unit on King Street, it now appears that more news on that opening will be coming in 2023 – although it’s hard to say if it will be the first Manchester site to be announced.
The bakery group already has strong ties with Manchester, having run its sister wholesale bakery The Bread Factory in Openshaw since 2017.
Formed in the early 1990s by namesake Gail Mejia, Gail’s began when its eponymous founder decided to bring together the best bakers in London to create bakes for the capitals top chefs and restaurants.
Today, is known more as a customer-facing cafe and bakery whilst The Bread Factory continues the original wholesale legacy – supplying high quality, artisan breads to some of the region’s top local restaurants.
Gail’s first cafe opened on Hampstead High Street in 2005, and now the brand has 79 in neighbourhoods in and around London, Oxford, Brighton and more.
Turning back the clock on industrialised baking practices and moving to bake bread as it used to be baked: by hand, using quality ingredients and time-worn artisanal methods, Gail’s soon established a name for itself and has come a long way since those early days.
Still, the stuff that matters – the ethos, the suppliers, the skill and a handful of tried-and-tested sourdough starter cultures – hasn’t changed.
A champion for sustainability, the bakery also prides itself on minimising food waste by carefully setting aside any leftover food and donating it to a selection of local charities in each eatery’s neighbourhood
Emily Sergeant -
21st January 2021 
