Akshaya Patra’s New Gorakhpur Kitchen: A Bigger Step Towards Ending Classroom Hunger

What is the best way to protect the future of a country? There is only one answer to this: by ensuring its children’s right to nutrition and education. This is why every step towards addressing classroom hunger creates a bigger impact not just for children today, but for the future they will build.

Committed to this belief, Akshaya Patra has taken another step forward with the inauguration of its centralised kitchen in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Built to bring nutritious meals to more children in the region, the new kitchen will help the organisation serve thousands more children under PM POSHAN (The Mid-Day Meal Programme).

A bigger kitchen. A bigger impact.

Why Gorakhpur Needed a Larger Kitchen?

The story of the Akshaya Patra kitchen in Gorakhpur began in August 2019, as the Foundation’s 50^th kitchen in India. Started by serving meals to approximately 5,000 children, the programme had such a huge impact that the organisation built a temporary facility to increase its reach to 17,000 children.

The growing need made one thing clear – a larger, permanent kitchen is essential.

On 25 June 2026, this became a reality. The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, inaugurated the expanded kitchen, which has the capacity to serve one lakh meals. Initially, it serves meals to 55,000 children across 546 schools and will further expand to children across 1,570 schools.

The Menu follows the government’s nutrition guidelines.

Monday	Roti,  Mixed vegetable curry and soya chunks
Tuesday	Plain rice, lauki chana daal or mixed dal
Wednesday	Mixed vegetable curry, tehari and kheer
Thursday	Roti, aloo and kabuli chana sabji
Friday	Mixed vegetable curry, tehari and kheer
Saturday	Plain rice, vegetable Jalfrezi/ Mysoor Sambaar

Around 190 employees work together to ensure every meal is cooked safely, packed hygienically and delivered on time.

A Stronger Step Towards Supporting Children Across Uttar Pradesh

The new Gorakhpur kitchen is more than an expansion in capacity it strengthens Akshaya Patra's efforts to support children across one of India's most populous states. As the kitchen gradually expands its reach to more schools, it will play an important role in ensuring that thousands more children receive nutritious mid-day meals every school day.

Its significance becomes even clearer in the context of Uttar Pradesh, which is home to approximately 19% of India's child population. A state with a larger population than many countries like Brazil, Bangladesh and Russia, it has children below the age of 18 who make up nearly 45% of its population (based on the 2011 Census). In a state where children constitute nearly half the population, ensuring access to nutritious meals is both an urgent need and a long-term investment in its social and economic development.

Reaching Children Sustainably

Preparing meals is only half the effort. Delivering them fresh and on time is equally important. To make this possible while reducing the environmental impact, the Gorakhpur kitchen operates a fleet of 23 electric vehicles. Supported by route optimisiation and GPRS tracking, these vehicles ensure meals reach schools efficiently every day while lowering the carbon footprint.

Strengthening the Mid-Day Meal Programme Across Uttar Pradesh

Apart from Gorakhpur, Akshaya Patra implements the Mid-Day Meal Programme in seven locations.

Locations	Kitchen Capacity
Lucknow	1,00,000
Vrindavan	1,00,000
Gorakhpur	1,00,000
Mant	20,000
Varanasi	65,000
Barsana	5,000
Gautam Buddh Nagar	20,000
Kanpur	2,000

One Meal Can Change More than a Day

Does the promise of one nutritious meal really create lasting change? The answer can be seen in classrooms across the country.

For many families facing economic challenges, mid-day meals become an important reason to send children to school every day.  By serving nutritious meals, we can create an opportunity for children to stay in school, continue learning and build a better future.

So, how far these children from limited socio-economic backgrounds go is the progress report of what we do today.

The opportunity we create for them is the litmus test of our commitment to the next generation. Every charity donation helps serve mid-day meals and move India closer to a vision where no child is deprived of education because of hunger.