Pizza place donates meal to help orphans in Malawi, Africa

PROVO — When you eat at Malawi's Pizza restaurant, you're not just satisfying your hunger, you are also helping a child in Malawi, Africa, get a meal.

Malawi's Pizza, on 4801 N. University Ave., opened in September 2010. 

Owner Kent Andersen said he wanted to do more than serve fresh and healthy food. He wanted to help make the world a better place, and so came the idea of "pizza with a purpose." The restaurant takes a portion of its sales to buy meals that are then distributed by Feed the Children to needy children in Malawi.

Malawi is a small country, located on the southern part of Africa. Andersen said he knew he could make a big difference to the people who live in a country whose slogan is "The Warm Heart of Africa." By working with humanitarian organizations, like Feed the Children, he knows the food goes to children in need, he said.

The meals are adding up. So far, the restaurant has donated an estimated 134,000 meals since it opened.

The restaurant is so successful, Andersen is working on opening a new location at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City.  

More than half of the population in Malawi lives in poverty, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute. The country has a massive food shortage and widespread hunger.

Tens of thousands of people die of AIDS every year, leaving many children orphans. There are more than 1 million orphans in Malawi.

— Viviane Vo-Duc