Eat Well MCR has today announced that Eat Well, Do Good – its city-wide fundraising campaign uniting Manchester’s hospitality community to feed those most in need – will return for October 2026, and is calling on restaurants, bars, and venues across Greater Manchester to sign up.
Eat Well, Do Good has become one of Manchester’s most anticipated moments of collective action. Throughout October, participating venues raise funds for Eat Well MCR in whatever way suits them best. Every pound raised goes directly towards chef-made meals for people facing the hardest of times: families in temporary accommodation, women in refuge, people relying on food banks, and parents staying overnight with their children in hospital.
Now in its third year, the campaign has grown rapidly since its debut in 2024. Last year, 70 venues took part – double the number from the previous year – and funds raised doubled too. Previous participating venues have included Lina Stores, Dishoom, Long Bois Bakehouse, The Black Friar, Where The Light Gets In, Blacklock, Hawksmoor, Great North Pie and 10 Tib Lane.
Venues have found their own ways to get involved. Some add an optional £1 donation to every bill, while others create a limited-edition dish with a portion of each sale going to the cause. Others host supper clubs, special menus and fundraising events, while some open their doors for community-focused dinners and workshops. A city-wide raffle also runs throughout the month, with prizes donated by local businesses. There is no single way to take part – only a shared commitment to helping people across the city.
A number of events have already been confirmed for 2026, including a special pre-launch Sunday lunch at Exhibition on Sunday 27th September, featuring dishes from across its kitchens alongside guest chefs.
The programme also includes SCRAN, an international food symposium bringing together leading voices from across the global hospitality industry.
Manchester-based collective Renae will return on 8th October with a DJ-led fundraising event, while Michelin Guide chef Caroline Martins will host a butchery session at Freight Island. The month will conclude on Monday 26th October with a closing dinner at Manchester Museum, led by chef Sam Buckley of Where The Light Gets In, in collaboration with Greater Manchester Youth Network, a charity supporting young people across the region.
Eat Well MCR was founded during lockdown in 2020 by Manchester chef and restaurateur Mary-Ellen McTague, alongside Gemma Saunders and Kathleen O’Connor. Since then, the organisation has delivered more than 165,000 chef-made meals to people across Greater Manchester, each prepared with the same care and attention as a restaurant dish.
Mary-Ellen McTague, Co-founder of Eat Well MCR, commented: “We started Eat Well MCR because we believed that proper, chef-made food, prepared with love could offer people a moment of hope when everything else felt bleak. That belief hasn’t changed, and neither has the need.
“What has changed is the extraordinary response from Manchester’s hospitality community. Every year, more venues get involved, more meals get made, and more people are reached. We’re so proud of what this city’s restaurants, bars, and chefs do together every October, and we’d love even more of them to be part of it this year. If there’s a venue out there wondering whether to get involved – please do. It matters more than you know.”
The 2026 programme is made possible with support from headline partner Toast, whose backing is helping expand the campaign’s reach, strengthen participation across the hospitality industry, and increase the number of meals delivered across Greater Manchester.
