WASHINGTON — Nando’s Peri Peri opens its seventh Northern Virginia location at the Mosaic District in Merrifield Saturday, and it won’t make a dime.
Nando’s is donating all proceeds from weekend business — not just the profits — to Falls Church High School.
Nando’s did the same thing when it opened its new H Street, NE location last month, donating more than $14,000 in weekend proceeds to the Atlas Theater and nearly $7,200 to DC’s United’s charity partner DC SCORES.
Nando’s says it has donated more than $100,000 to various nonprofits through store openings in D.C. and Chicago over the past several years.
Falls Church High School’s athletics teams and its current freshman class will split the money donated by Nando’s.
“Unlike some other jurisdictions, students in Fairfax County have to fundraise for equipment and uniforms, [and events like] prom and graduation” says FCHS Assistant Principal Colleen Lally, a 16-year veteran of the school.
“Our students are so involved. It’s not just an athletics fundraiser and not just a class of 2019 fundraiser.”
FCHS has close to 1,900 students.
“As newcomers to Fairfax, we wanted to be good neighbors and help raise needed funds for student programs at Falls Church High School,” said Nando’s CEO Burton Heiss.
Nando’s opened its first U.S. location in the District in 2008. It now has 30 locations in the Washington-Baltimore region and Chicago, the majority of them around the Washington metro.
It also is the largest collector of South African contemporary art in the world, and displays those artworks throughout its restaurants. The chain was founded in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1987, and has locations in nearly two dozen countries.
