Christmas with Compass: Teams deliver community spirit across the UK

Compass Group UK & Ireland is marking the festive season by supporting hundreds of local communities and charities up and down the country, providing help and joy to thousands of people.

CH&CO spread a little joy with its toy drive tradition, donating gifts to support East London Business Alliance’s Toy Appeal - providing children in need with a present.
Chartwells Schools supports the government funded Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) Programme, available to families and children that are eligible for free school meals. This will see Chartwells Schools Nutrition Team delivering nutrition and culinary education workshops throughout the Christmas break, in areas such as Leicester and Greenwich.
Chartwells Universities & Colleges team at University of Swansea are holding a community Christmas lunch, providing food, music and drinks. The team at Swansea have also worked with the university’s charity, ‘Discovery’ to provide barista training to young adults with disabilities. The training concludes with a Christmas showcase, for the participants to demonstrate their new skills. Plus, the team at Brunel University have donated 100 gifts to local community centres.
Dine has donated food to Steadychefs, which creates fun and exciting learning activities within the kitchen environment, for adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. This is to use in hampers for those in need this Christmas.
ESS supported by its suppliers will be donating 10,000 meals plus a range of hampers containing Christmas products and staple food items to charities in the Aberdeen area. Teams from its sites across the UK are donating gifts and food items to local organisations that support those in need.
Eurest and 14forty donned their aprons at Compass’ Birmingham office to lend a hand hosting Christmas lunch for the West Midlands FoodCycle team leaders, who work tirelessly year-round to transform surplus food into delicious meals. 23 volunteers also supported FoodCycle’s Food Invention charity event - they saved 60kg of food waste dishing up 33 portions.
Lodestone House’s team at Tonbridge School will support the local foodbank, ‘Sustain and FEAST’ to help feed 185 families in the local area, giving access to ingredients for Christmas meals for £1 (cost per family).
Medirest’s Southend team is proud to have partnered with Carrie’s Outreach Aspirations, to support local women and families this festive season. Over the past few months, they donated 150 essential hygiene and food items, as well as handmade blankets, raised £250 through a cake sale, and collected 72 chocolate boxes and biscuit packs for festive hampers.
Rapport’s BeKind network has launched an ambitious campaign to raise £10,000 for West Lea and Down Syndrome Ireland by April 2026, already gaining momentum through a festive raffle, client-site bake sales and plans for a charity pub quiz in the new year.
Restaurant Associates Group supported a Breakfast Club for homeless people at St George’s Cathedral. The team prepared and served breakfast and helped organise and distribute food donations, saving surplus food and helping to feed over 90 people.

Charity giving highlights from 2025

CH&CO recently hosted a spectacular James Bond-inspired gala in support of the King’s Trust, the charity was founded by King Charles III to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. 250 people gathered for the glamorous event and an incredible £35,000 was raised for the worthy cause.
Compass spent almost £20,000 with From Babies with Love, gifting baby products to new parents, with 100% of the organisation’s profits supporting vulnerable children.
Coffee by Eurest - Peak Street has raised £20,000 for their partnership for Mental Health UK.
ESS has supported military charities throughout the year, including raising over £24,000 through an ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ fitness and fundraising challenge, as well as completing VE Day 80 fundraising activities, a sponsored abseil, hosting cook along videos and entering a team in a Race Across the UK.
Foodbuy Group has raised over £100,000 for Duchenne UK in 2025. As their long-standing charity partner, funds were raised through a charity activity day, supplier conference, the Duchenne Dash (Duchenne UK's flagship event - a 24-hour cycle from London to Paris), and other team events.
Levy UK raised over £63,500 for its long-standing charity partner, ParalympicsGB. This impressive total comes hot on the heels of the company's annual fundraising challenge - Endure24 - which saw dedicated Levy employees unite across its partner sites to participate in a 24-hour endurance event.
Medirest has continued to support Sophie’s Legacy through the year, delivering meals to the parents and carers of unwell children in hospitals (paediatric patients on extended clinical care plans) – over 15,000 in total. Medirest has also supported the Sophie’s Legacy charity ball and most recently the team raised £1,500, plus at Southend Hospital colleagues raised over £1,000 during December. At Royal Surrey people donated Christmas presents for children to support the charity.
One Retail’s annual Elf Week celebration took place last week raising thousands for Alzheimer’s Society.
Restaurant Associates Group is making a difference through its Coffee for Causes programme, having raised £7,633 for Foodinate this year to support people affected by food poverty and homelessness. They continue to donate money from hot beverages to various charities during the festive season and beyond.
Vacherin team members conquered the Three Peaks Challenge, raising over an incredible £32,400 for the Luminary Charity and Luminary Bakery. The expedition helped mark the ten-year anniversary of Vacherin’s partnership with the social enterprise that empowers disadvantaged women in London.

Compass continues to support action in preventing food going to waste with activities such as Lodestone House team members volunteering with Fareshare over the Christmas break. Plus, Foodbuy Group continue to work with Fareshare to redistribute surplus food, with over 28,000 meals redistributed throughout 2025.

Lucy Hunt, Corporate Affairs and Social Value Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland: "Contributing to the communities in which we work, is something we are passionate about at Compass. Our teams provide fantastic support around the country all year. However, we know Christmas is a time of year where many people need extra help. We have been proud to work with so many wonderful charities and partner organisations, that not only provide critical help during this time, but also hopefully provide some festive cheer too."