Eat Well, Do Good month is returning to Manchester in October with an even bigger programme of restaurants, chefs, bars and events coming together to fund chef-made meals for people facing the hardest of times.
For the second year, the city’s hospitality community is getting behind the campaign, with more businesses on board and more events being announced across the month.
Every pound raised going directly towards chef made meals for those in need including families in temporary accommodation, women in refuge, people relying on food banks and parents staying overnight with their children in hospital.
Since it was first founded in 2020 by chef and restaurateur Mary-Ellen McTague, alongside Kathleen 0’Connor and Gemma Saunders, Eat Well MCR has delivered more than 170,000 chef-made meals to people across Greater Manchester.
The month starts early with support from The Refuge as they celebrate 10 years of The refuge with a party on September 26 from Ghosts of Garage. Tickets are just £2, which pays for a meal for someone in need in Manchester.
From there, the programme runs the full breadth of Manchester’s food and drink scene.
October 5 sees the start of a one day food convention SCRAN, a day gathering chefs, farmers, producers, policy-makers and community leaders to reimagine what’s possible for Manchester’s food economy.
MasterChef winner Gareth Baty will take over The Refuge on October 7 for a very special fundraising dinner. The following night, Northern Quarter favourite Renae hosts an evening of “fund-raving” on October 8, with back-to-back sets from Lil’ Minx & Sarah Sweeney (Eve’s Drop Collective), Chunky & Synna G, and Il Bosco & Metrodome.
Elsewhere across the month, a Negroni Safari will see some of Manchester’s best bartenders put their own spin on the classic cocktail. October 26 brings a packed day of events, with Dishoom dedicating a special breakfast service to Eat Well MCR, Holly Pickles attempting a record-breaking pickle event at Track Brewery for a half-term family crowd, and Stockport hi-fi listening bar Odioba rounding off the day with a one-off supper club, with artist and DJ Stan Chow providing the soundtrack.
The month closes with a dinner beneath the whale at Manchester Museum on November 2, created in collaboration with Gorton Youth Zone and chef Mary-Ellen McTague, Eat Well MCR founder, – a finale that puts young people and the food they’ve helped create, at the very centre of the night.
Running throughout October is the campaign’s city-wide raffle, with prizes donated by local businesses including The Black Friar, Nell’s, Palms Bakers, The Ivy, Proloco, Flight Club, Manchester Bites Food Tours, Sampa and many more, with every ticket helping to fund meals across the city.
The 2026 programme is once again made possible with the support of headline partner Toast, whose backing is helping to expand the campaign’s reach and strengthen participation across Manchester’s hospitality community. Eat Well MCR is also hugely grateful for the continued support of St Pierre, a longstanding supporter of the charity whose generosity helps us deliver chef-made meals and develop our work across Greater Manchester.
Mary-Ellen McTague, co-founder of Eat Well MCR, said: “We are completely blown away by the support that has come from the Manchester hospitality community. Eat Well, Do Good Month has become such an important part of the Manchester food and drink calendar, and seeing it return for a second year with even more businesses and events involved is really special.
What started as an idea to bring the hospitality community together around good food and a good cause has grown into something much bigger, with restaurants, bars, chefs and businesses across the city all finding their own ways to get involved. The need is still huge, but so is the appetite from our hospitality community to help. We can’t wait to see everyone come together again this October and, most importantly, turn all that support into more meals for people who really need them.”
Eat Well MCR is still welcoming venues to take part. Restaurants, bars, cafés, delis and hospitality businesses across Greater Manchester can register their interest or find out more by contacting [email protected].
