Following the celebration of 25 successful years of its Breakfast Club programme, The Greggs Foundation is proud to announce a new chapter in its commitment to supporting children and families across the UK: Feeding Brighter Futures.
Feeding Brighter Futures builds on the legacy of the Foundation’s Breakfast Club scheme, which currently serves over 75,000 children daily across more than 1,000 schools and has been proven to significantly improve the attainment and wellbeing of children enrolled on the scheme. The evolved scheme has the same underlying mission as the Breakfast Club programme – to improve educational equality – but will expand support beyond breakfast to include after-school and holiday enrichment activities.
This expansion follows the UK Government’s new commitment to fund breakfast provision in schools, with trials having begun in April 2025 and a wider rollout expected by 2027.
This policy shift prompted The Greggs Foundation to consult with its partner schools on how best to redistribute its support. As a result, schools voiced the need for more after-school and holiday club support areas where many children currently miss out due to financial constraints or limited resources.
Feeding Brighter Futures will continue to support existing breakfast clubs during the government transition period, ensuring no child is left behind. Simultaneously, the Foundation will pilot after school and holiday club funding with select schools through 2025.
All 1,000 schools in the current network will also continue to have access to The Greggs Foundation’s hardship fund, offering grants for essential items such as clothing, grocery vouchers, beds, and household appliances to help families in crisis.
Richard Hutton, long standing trustee of The Greggs Foundation and Chief Financial Officer at Greggs plc says: “This amazing programme, that’s grown to feed over 75,000 children every single day, started with a very simple objective – that no child should start the school day hungry.
“We’re proud that the Breakfast Clubs we support are places where children can build relationships, develop social skills, and gain the energy and focus that they need for their studies. For many, it’s the highlight of their day. We’ve shown that that Breakfast Clubs are about more than just breakfast; they’re about knocking down some of the barriers to a better future.”
Tracy Lynch, Greggs Foundation manager comments: “This is such an exciting time for the future of the Foundation. For more than 25 years we’ve ensured thousands of children received a free breakfast at one of our clubs, and now we’re able to offer a support package which covers even more of the school day.
“The feedback from our school network was clear. Too many children were unable to access extracurricular opportunities due to financial constraints, or schools were not able to provide the mix of activities or after-school support that they wanted. Giving children those safe spaces to learn, play, socialise or develop new hobbies has always been a key part of our support for schools. With Feeding Brighter Futures, we’re able to give children equal access to even greater opportunities to unlock their future potential.”
