Asda is to offer children free warm breakfasts in the half-term holiday, in a bid to help families hit by the cost of living crisis.
The supermarket today announced an exclusive partnership with Quaker Oats, which will mean children can get a free bowl of porridge from 8am to 12pm every day in more than 200 cafés across the UK.
Asda said the partnership was expected to see more than 50,000 bowls of porridge served to children across the country, and comes on top of its existing £1 kids meal deal launched last year.
In January, Asda announced the extension of both its kids £1 meals and over-60s Winter Warmer £1 soup café initiatives until the end of March.
Over 1.1 million £1 meals have been sold to date, with the retailer seeing a tenfold increase in meals served across school holiday periods.
Asda pointed to recent research from charity Magic Breakfast, showing 81% of schools believe child hunger has increased in their community in the last year, and 94% believe poverty has increased. Additionally, 95% of schools agree breakfast provision has positively impacted concentration in class and 87% agree it alleviates pressure on family budgets.
Asda’s latest Income Tracker research showed household disposable incomes fell by an average of 11.4% during the fourth quarter to £209 per week, compared to £236 per week in Q4 the previous year.
“We know when families are preparing for the school holidays it can often mean an additional strain on household budgets – especially feeding and entertaining their children,” said Asda’s chief commercial officer Kris Comerford. “We remain as committed as ever to supporting our customers in tackling these tough times.
“Our café initiatives continue to provide a lifeline for over 1.5 million customers since we launched them last year, and we hope by offering a free warm breakfast in the February half term, it will help support many more in the coming weeks.”
“It’s so important everyone has access to breakfast to start the day which is why we’re partnering with Asda to provide free Quaker Oats porridge to children this half term,” said Quaker Oats UK general manager Divesh Parmar.
“This initiative, alongside our new Share the Warmth campaign, means we can play a small part in getting a warm, nutritious breakfast to people who really need it this winter.”
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