We’ve partnered with Morrisons to offer free crumpets to anyone who simply asks for Ellen this summer

200,000 portions of crumpets will be given out for free during the summer holidays, in a new initiative called ‘Ask for Ellen’

With schools starting to close for the long six weeks of summer, we have partnered with Morrisons to launch ‘Ask for Ellen’, to give a little support to families throughout the holidays.

New research commissioned by The Warburtons Foundation, surveying 1,000 parents of school-aged children, found that 64 per cent of parents are worried about the increased costs of their child being at home for the summer. Parents think the school holidays will cost them almost £200 extra over the six week holiday due to childcare and family activities and 71 per cent are preparing themselves to buy more snacks than normal to plan for day trips and activities to keep children fed on the go.

With this collaboration providing free food for all, we are aiming to alleviate that pressure and support families during the summer holidays, including those who are feeling the absence of free school meals and breakfast clubs.

The research also revealed the added financial pressure facing families as schools break up for the summer – when questioned about the typical six-week break, 58 per cent of parents will contend with additional childcare costs as they juggle work and their kids.

The initiative is named after our founder, Ellen Warburton. Our 5^th generation family business has been passionate about supporting charities since it was established in 1876 and continues to do so today, through the Warburtons Foundation. In the last year alone the Warburtons Foundation donated over one million products to schools and food banks and has set the donation target of 1.25 million products already for this year.

Chris Strong, Morrisons Café Buying Manager, said: “Supporting our customers during the school holidays is incredibly important to us as we know that many families worry about catering for additional meals that are usually covered during the school term time. We are therefore pleased to be partnering with Warburtons this summer and offering our customers two toasted crumpets, with butter and jam when they visit a Morrisons café and Ask for Ellen.”

Jonathan Warburton, Chairman of Warburtons, commented: “Whilst the summer holidays offer a chance for families to enjoy time together, we know that the reality can be very different for many families. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to put pressure on household budgets we wanted to offer a little to support to families through the holidays. Being able to help families across the country is as important to us today as it was to Ellen Warburtons back in 1876.”

The Ask for Ellen initiative follows on from the success of the ‘Ask for Henry’ scheme which saw Morrisons partner with Heinz to give away a free jacket potato and beans in its cafés.

In addition, Morrisons will continue to offer its Kids Eat Free promotion during this time meaning families can access a free kids meal when purchasing an adult meal costing £4.49 or more.

To get your free crumpets with jam and butter, head down to your nearest Morrisons Café which you can find here: https://my.morrisons.com/storefinder/.

You can also read more about the campaign here.

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