Coronavirus: the positive hospitality industry moves
- London’s Lina Stores restaurants will offer free handmade pasta and Italian sauces to hospitality workers who have been made redundant, and those in at-risk groups. A Go Fund Me page has been set up asking for donations, 100% of which will be spent on supplies and staff to produce the food. Anyone who donates more than £20 will get 20% off Lina Stores’ restuarants when they reopen as normal.
- From 19 March Liverpool’s Duke Street Market is turning its foyer in to a drop-off point for donations of non-perishable goods, toiletries and long-life items which will be given to struggling hospitality workers. People will be able to leave the goods in an area and have no contact with staff at the market to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
- BrewDog has begun making bottles of hand sanitiser at its Scottish distillery to help with shortages. The ‘Punk Sanitiser’ will be given away for free to those in need. Dundee-based Verdant Spirits has also switched production from gin to hand sanitiser after an appeal from local care groups and has put out a call for donations to help it cover the resulting alcohol duty costs.
- A growing number of restaurants and cafes are giving freebies or hefty discounts to NHS staff. Carluccio's is offering 50% off food and drink in its restaurants and delis to all NHS workers, and the group remains open for now. From 19 March Pret is offering all NHS workers free hot drinks and 50% off food. On Friday (20 March) Dominoes is offering a free medium pizza to NHS staff who bring in an ID badge, while McDonald’s is also giving away free drinks.
- Hotel chain Best Western Great Britain is offering 15,000 bedrooms and over 1,000 meeting rooms to help ease pressure on the NHS. The rooms are available for staff, care workers, families, lower-risk patients and the over-70s to reduce strain on hospital wards. “Local hospitals, councils and authorities have been in touch directly asking for help,” says Andrew Denton, head of hotel services at Best Western Great Britain. “We urge the wider hospitality industry to join our cause.”
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