Following its huge success in Milan and Rio de Janeiro, Refettorio Felix has now landed in London.

The soup kitchen is part of Chef Massimo Bottura’s Food for Soul project, which we are very proud to have a non-profit partnership with. This association has led to 25 tons of food being saved from becoming waste, in just one year.

Refettorio Felix is created by Bottura in association with Justin Byam Shaw’s The Felix Project. Shaw’s project is a food waste charity which collects unsellable but still edible food and delivers it to those who need it the most.

Bottura’s Food for Soul project has gathered supporters from around the globe, and the new kitchen created in London’s St Cuthbert’s is no different. Opened to coincide with London Food Month, the grand opening of Refettorio Felix was attended by 120 invitees, including Tom Parker Bowles (Creative Director of London Food Month) and Richard Parker (Chairman of St Cuthbert’s Centre). Bottura was the first to cook in the brand new kitchen, who cooked up recipes spontaneously depending on what was sent in on 50 crates by The Felix Project. Justin Byam Shaw said at the opening, ‘There’s more than enough food to go around, it’s just not reaching the right people’.

We are proud to not only support this great cause financially but also supply them with our products, including small and large kitchen appliances, a TV and audio technologies. The project was supported by interior design by Studiolise and architect Charles Wainwright. The aesthetic of the kitchen promotes a holistic feel, with resonations of health and nutrition for the body and soul. Massimo Bottura said ‘while people are putting up barriers, here at Refettorio Felix we are breaking down walls. Together we have produced a place of beauty for everyone’.

During London Food Month, some of the best chefs around the world took it upon themselves to volunteer in the Refettorio Felix kitchen daily. More than 30 chefs have already volunteered, including Michel Roux Jr., Jonny Lake (Executive Head Chef of The Fat Duck), and Nuno Mendes (Chiltern Firehouse Chef). We are thankful and glad to be able to help when they put their culinary skills towards helping those in need. As Bottura said, ‘a delicious meal shared with others is much more than a sum of its ingredients, it’s a gesture of love’.

Our Respect Food campaign is all about promoting exactly this. We want to promote a lifestyle that is healthy, happy and mindful of waste. Our CEO, Hakan Bulgurlu said ‘the synergy between Grundig and Food for Soul is built on an authentic respect for food, to ultimately waste less and feed more’. We are happy to say that Refettorio Felix will stay open indefinitely to serve lunch from Monday to Friday to those who need it most.