In just four years, and with the help of Virgin Unite, One Feeds Two has scaled from a one-man soup business to delivering over 3.6 million school meals in the world’s poorest countries.

Supported by many of the UK’s national food companies including COOK, Byron Hamburgers, Mindful Chef and Rola Wala – One Feeds Two USA is now launching and the pipeline of US food businesses is set to drive significant impact.

Back in 2014, Virgin Unite generously took to social media to spread the word about a not-for-profit start-up called One Feeds Two. The hope was to unearth food company partners looking to make a social impact and inspire them to take up the fight against child hunger.

Like TOMS shoes – One Feeds Two adopts the one-for-one model, but focused on a meal-for-a-meal. We licence our logo to food companies who then fund a school meal in one of the world’s poorest countries for every licenced product they sell.

These are meals that enable children to attend school, rather than work or scavenge for food. They are meals that allow the children to engage with the school lesson or play, not be fixated on how they might secure that next meal. They are meals that fuel bodies, brains and dreams for a brighter future.

Every meal represents a more productive school day and better odds of those children breaking through the barriers to the careers of their dreams.

One Feeds Two was first conceived by JP Campbell, an ex-corporate lawyer turned food entrepreneur whose Edinburgh-based soup business had built the concept into their proposition – and as a result had captured the attention of Virgin Unite in a Screw Business as Usual competition.

Virgin Unite then paired JP up with Mark Christophers, the successful founder of West Cornwall Pasty Company and regular contributor to Virgin Unite initiatives, who in turn introduced JP to me. The soup business was left behind, and the One Feeds Two Foundation began to take shape.

Back in 2014 we believed that our concept could scale across the food industry to make a meaningful impact on child hunger – a major barrier to education for too many children across the world. We believed that food industry entrepreneurs would buy into a movement that delivered a tangible impact to a worthwhile cause that is relevant to their industry. We believed that we could make the ability to have a positive impact on the world accessible to every man and woman on the street, simply by directing where they choose to eat.

Together they have funded over 3.6 million school meals – and are now funding at a rate of over 1.5 million meals per year.

Four years on and we have partnered with amazing companies and leaders who have fully embraced the concept. Wonderful British businesses like Byron Hamburgers, COOK Food, Mindful Chef, Healthy Yummies, Hancock’s American Restaurants, Higgidy Pies and Mark’s latest venture, Rola Wala are all involved. Together they have funded over 3.6 million school meals – and are now funding at a rate of over 1.5 million meals per year. Their customers and their staff love how tangible the impact is that they are making. It makes sense that the school meal is enabling better educational outcomes – breaking down barriers to work and fruitful careers.

We have shown that the concept can scale up and we are now turning our eyes to more widespread adoption across the UK – and, as of October this year, we have launched One Feeds Two USA. Our first partner in the USA, INVICTO, a Mexican casual dining concept that is starting out in Chicago, has gone live and we have an encouraging pipeline of other interested food businesses. Our US arm will be headed by two successful food entrepreneurs, David Sloan and Franklin Wiener, the founders of INVICTO, and Patrick Wartan, a hospitality law partner with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in Chicago. We are very excited about the potential that the US market offers.

Every day 61 million children either miss out on school because they need to focus on securing food, or they go to school too hungry to learn properly. On the other hand, each day 94 million Brits and Americans eat fast food every day. One Feeds Two, now with UK and US operations, has the potential to have a genuine impact on this issue, one food company partner at a time, one meal at a time. Every meal represents a more productive school day and better odds of those children breaking through the barriers to the careers of their dreams.

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