Chefs in Schools – The film that raised £400,000 | New Fruit Productions

Campaigns & Fundraising · Chefs in Schools

The film that helped raise £400,000 in a single evening

Client Chefs in Schools
Deliverable Fundraising film & event content
Premiere Dinner of Dreams, Kings Cross
Result £400,000+ raised
£400k raised in one evening · exceeding the target

Make donors feel what’s at stake

Chefs in Schools is on a mission to transform food education in UK schools — but numbers alone don’t open wallets. They needed a film that could make a room full of generous strangers feel the urgency and the joy of what they were funding: real children, real change, and a vision worth backing.

The film had one job: to move people before the ask was made.

Storytelling first, spectacle second

We spent time in the schools before we touched a camera — understanding the programme, the children, and what food education actually means in practice. The film was built around those human moments: a child tasting something for the first time, a teacher watching it click.

The premiere took place at the Dinner of Dreams event in Kings Cross — a school dining room transformed for an evening, catered by Michelin-starred chefs. The film opened the evening, setting the emotional tone before a single speech was made.

They smashed the target

The evening raised over £400,000 — enough to fund Chefs in Schools’ work with children across the UK for years to come. The film played its part in making that happen.

It’s now used as an ongoing fundraising and awareness asset, continuing to work long after the event.

“We were lucky enough to commission New Fruit to make a video for our charity explaining our work. They were a complete delight to work with, patient with our revisions, really quick and responsive. The end product was just phenomenal — easily the best piece of work we’ve had produced. It managed to condense our ethos and work into a few minutes of film in a way I didn’t think was possible. They captured the heart and soul of what we do so expertly and beautifully.”

— Naomi Duncan, Chief Executive, Chefs in Schools

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