Coronavirus: the positive hospitality industry moves
- London’s Lina Stores has so far raised more than £21,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to help support hospitality workers in the capital who have been made redundant and those who are considered vulnerable. 100% of the funds raised are being used to source supplies and pay staff to produce meal kits for those out of work or at risk. Each kit contains enough food to make 10 separate meals consisting of fresh, handmade pasta, accompanying sauces and extra cheese on top. £10,000 is enough to produce 4,000 meals, which means that so far more than 8,000 meals have been produced. To find out more, or donate to the Lina Stores campaign, click here.
- The team behind London restaurant group Le Bab has launched an initiative called the London Restaurant Co-Operative. The Le Bab kitchen in Soho has temporarily reopened as a not-for-profit social kitchen to offer some extra financial relief to the chefs and waiters who’ve lost their jobs due to Coronavirus restaurant closures. Unemployed chefs are helping to prepare low-cost ready meals and comfort food such as lasagne, that can be paid for online and biked over to people by waiting staff. The kitchen and waiting staff will keep 100% of the profits, and owner Stephen Tozer has personally covered the set up costs. Surplus food at the end of each day will be donated to NHS staff at UCL hospital, and The Connection at St Martin in the Fields homeless shelter. Any additional funds not distributed as wage support to kitchen and waiting staff will be used to fund charitable meals.
- Greek street food player The Athenian is working to ensure its teams are supported as much as possible during the Coronavirus crisis. All Athenian staff will now receive a weekly parcel of ‘basic necessities’ including feta pastry; lentils; tomatoes; tomato paste; pasta; olive oil; lettuce; and toilet roll. The packages are designed to help ensure every Athenian staff member has their basic needs covered, no matter what.
- Artisanal bakery brand Gail’s is working to support NHS staff fighting the Coronavirus crisis by donating care packages of bread and pastries to hospitals and charity trusts. In a twitter post yesterday (24 March), the business wrote: “Baking for our communities is what we do; today, for both neighbourhoods and front line NHS teams. We continue to support charities with good food every day. We need more help to get our food to those who need it. If you can lend a hand get in touch at oernqurnqf@tnvyfoernq.pb.hx."
- Lord Bilimoria from the Cobra Collective is to host a live IGTV stream from 12pm until 1pm this coming Friday, 27 March, in order to help fellow industry members navigate these turbulent times. Drawing on his own experiences, Lord Bilimoria will discuss the ways in which he has handled the more challenging periods throughout his years in the hospitality industry. Following his speech, those who have joined the IGTV live stream will be invited to submit questions for Lord Bilimoria to answer. Restaurateurs, business owners, entrepreneurs, and industry employees alike are encouraged to take part; to do so visit the Cobra Collective Instagram channel, and click through to Instagram stories.
