HEINZ TO OPEN ‘CANNECTION CAFÉ’ AS RESEARCH SHOWS IMPACT OF MEALTIMES ON FAMILY CONNECTION AND SENSE OF BELONGING

Today Heinz, along with its charity partner Barnardos, announces the launch of its ‘Cannection Café’, where it will be offering free Beanz-based meals through an exclusive ‘BEANardos menu’ to anyone looking to connect with others over a delicious, hot, beansy meal!

The Heinz and Barnardos ‘Cannection Café’ will be open to the public from 16th–23rd August at Meltdown, Dublin – simply ask for the ‘BEANardos menu’ when you arrive.

The only payment accepted will be conversation, with diners encouraged to place their phones in a giant Heinz Beanz can for the duration of their meal. Diners can use this opportunity to instead ‘cannect’ with each other, aided by Heinz and Barnardos ‘Cannection Kits’, which will include conversation starters designed in partnership with Clinical Psychologist Dr. Malie Coyne.

The café launches as Heinz and Barnardos join forces for a third year to bring back the limited-edition three-packs of ‘Heinz Meanz Mealz’ Beanz cans. Available in stores nationwide, the packs will help support vulnerable children and families all over Ireland, with every pack purchased seeing Heinz donate to Barnardos Breakfast Clubs.

The event comes as a survey conducted by Heinz found that most (80%) parents in Ireland believe uninterrupted family mealtimes could be the answer to increasing family happiness and 69% believe shared mealtimes improves family connections.

Campaign ambassador, Vogue Williams, has lent her support to the campaign, and wants to encourage families everywhere to put the phone away at mealtimes; “Being a family with very small kids, our mealtimes are continuously disrupted. But I try and prevent further disruption by always making sure we sit together and that no one’s on their phone or watching TV. When it comes to fitting in quality family time around mealtimes, for me personally it’s all about being present, sitting together, not being on your phone or even having an electronic device near you if you can. 

“We really hope that we can encourage change and get people to share more connections and time together, and the Cannection Café is a great place to start this!”

Elaine McCague, Head of Commercial & Marketing at Heinz, said “Mealtimes are traditionally a time when families and friends come together, but as our lives come increasingly hectic and with the proliferation of smartphones stealing our attention; this time is rarer than ever. We hope we can play a part in helping this problem through our continued support for Barnardos and the launch of our ‘Cannection Café’.”

The Heinz and Barnardos ‘Cannection Café’ will be open to the public from 16th–23rd August at Meltdown, Dublin – simply ask for the ‘BEANardos menu’ when you get there. 

#HeinzXBarnardos #BeanzMeanzMealz