A hot meal service for those in need has been launched in one of the city’s most affluent areas as the cost of living crisis continues to squeeze people on the breadline.

West End business owners Gerard McKenzie-Govan and Joanna Nethery have teamed up to serve nutritious takeaway meals every Wednesday from Gerard’s shop on Great Western Road in response to the crisis.

Using the kitchen at Joanna’s contemporary restaurant Five March to prepare vegetarian and meat-based options, the pair dish out meals with no questions asked to anyone who comes into Gerard’s shop, The Blankfaces.

Glasgow Times:

Gerard, 42, opened a food bank called the Tuck Shop in the rear of his store in the summer but realised the need to “take the next step up and provide nutritional meals”.

He said: “People that come in here are staying in places where they only have a kettle, they don’t even have a microwave - they might only have a pot noodle every day.”

Joanna, 38, added: “It’s going to get even harder this winter when the number of people forced to choose between heating their homes or feeding themselves and their children rises exponentially.”

Glasgow Times:

Since the Tuck Shop opened, Gerard says around 30 people a week are already using it as a food bank and the same number of people have started to come in on Wednesdays for a hot meal.

Gerard said: “It’s obviously needed. We’re in an affluent area of Glasgow and still have people using the food bank, so I imagine that when more people learn about it, more will start to use it.”

Each Wednesday around 12.30pm, Joanna drops off two heaping trays of food (this week was a bean cassoulet and a chorizo stew with potato) and Gerard will phone nearby shelters to let them know it’s ready.

Gerard said: “No one wakes up in the morning and wants to use a food bank.”

Operating the food bank out of a storefront allows people to use the service with dignity and there is “no stigma attached," says Joanna.

Glasgow Times:

She added: “Many people that use this service shouldn’t need to use it because they’re employed.

“The way the world is right now, sometimes being employed isn’t enough.

“Because it’s a shopfront, you don’t need to be worried about somebody seeing and judging you, you could just be coming in to support a local business rather than coming in for help.

“The line between poverty and homelessness is thinner than ever and people are one paycheck away from having nowhere to live.

“Something needs to be done to address this quickly.”

Gerard and Joanna are hoping to expand the hot food offering at The Blankfaces to as many days a week as they can and are encouraging other restaurants to participate.

Joanna said: “I think everyone is working three times harder for a third of the money right now and helping out with the food bank has been a good reason to get out of bed in the morning, it’s really inspiring.”

To find out more about the Tuck Shop or to donate, click here. To get involved, send an email to Five March at hello@fivemarch.co.uk.