Arena Savoy Lecture: Dr Andy Kemp urges industry to help tackle child hunger

Dr Andrew Kemp, group sales and marketing director at Bidfood has urged the industry to get behind campaigns aiming to tackle child hunger.

Speaking at an Arena networking event last week, Kemp passionately explained some of the key issues facing children today and encouraged the sector to lend their full support to organisations such as LACA and Springboard.

Kemp told the audience that four million children in the UK live in households that cannot afford the fruit, vegetables and protein needed to sustain a balanced diet.

He argued that, while the introduction of free school meals, which Kemp lobbied for alongside Pat Fellows, LACA, Prue Leith and Jamie Oliver has had a huge impact, ‘holiday hunger’ is still a major issue with 1.5 million children going hungry every day in the school holidays.

Kemp, who was the keynote speaker at Arena’s long-running Savoy Lecture, shared his experiences of working in a sector in a career which has spanned more than 40 years.

The sell-out event also saw more than 200 high-profile attendees from across the contract catering, hotels, restaurants and wholesale spaces, listen to Kemp discuss the challenges and opportunities he has been presented with in an industry he entered almost four decades ago.