LONDON, UK – The organisation behind The World’s 50 Best Bars today launches a three-pronged campaign, entitled 50 Best for Recovery – standing with the global bar community in partnership with Perrier. The aim is to provide tangible financial relief where possible, as well as create and collate helpful resources for bar businesses as they emerge from the pandemic and seek actionable advice and support.
The first part of the project is the 50 Best Recovery Fund, with the generous backing of founding donor Perrier. The fund will be utilised to support a range of non-profit organisations working in different parts of the globe to aid the survival and eventual revival of the bars sector. Funds will be raised through donations from 50 Best’s partners as well as a range of accessible initiatives through which guests will be able to give back to their beloved bar community.
50 Best also launches The World’s 50 Best Bars Recovery Hub, which is gathering and generating content that will offer advice, information and inspiration for the sector, as well as for cocktail lovers looking to play their part in sustaining and rebuilding our industry. At the same time, 50 Best will continue to recognise the passion, skill and determination of bars, bartenders and their teams as they push towards reopening and revitalisation.
50 Best will host a virtual Recovery Summit in October, with a clear focus on exploring how the bar world can thrive once again. Comprising a range of events including masterclasses, case studies and discussion forums, the Summit will gather the global drinks community together online to share learnings, promote best practices and explore visions of a post-pandemic world for cocktail bars and their guests.
After consulting with the hospitality community and analysing feedback, 50 Best has concluded that these three pillars support the areas where bars require assistance most. 50 Best for Recovery will provide essential fiscal stimulus, a source of reliable and regularly updated information and create a focal point where the community can share its experiences and look to the future.
Mark Sansom, Content Editor for The World’s 50 Best Bars, says: “With 50 Best Recovery, we took a step back to examine our strengths and work out how we can best apply these to provide concrete help to the bar community. We will utilise our network, our relationships and our global reach to raise money, collate valuable information and provide a platform to share experiences. We stand alongside our partners in supporting the bar world and believe that we have a key role to assist in accelerating the rebirth of bars across the globe after this truly harrowing period. We must all work in unison to give back to the community, so that the bars themselves can get back into the business of creating memories for guests that last a lifetime.”
Over the coming weeks, 50 Best will launch a series of fund-raising initiatives to encourage further contributions to the Recovery Fund, from corporate donors and consumers alike. This will include the 50 Best ‘Bid for Recovery’ Auction in June, offering food and drink lovers the opportunity to bid for out-of-this-world hospitality experience from bars and restaurants in the 50 Best family.
It will also publish Home Comforts: simple lockdown recipes from the world’s best chefs and bartenders, an e-book featuring simple home-made recipes from the world’s leading chefs, with complementary cocktail pairings from 50 Best bartenders, which will be downloadable in return for a small donation. A social media contest, #50BestRateMyPlate, will open to foodies and cocktail lovers across the globe, who will be challenged to create dishes and cocktails inspired by the book. Further details of how to participate in all these fund-raising programmes will be released prior to each individual initiative.
The 50 Best team continues to offer its heartfelt support to all those businesses and individuals suffering from the effects of the global pandemic. The organisation is hugely grateful to all those in the hospitality world who are dedicating their time and skill to help others, as well as to its partners
50 Best would like to thank founding donor Perrier for its support. Philippe Gallard, International Business Unit Director for Perrier, says: “The whole industry is being hit unbelievably hard by this crisis. Most outlets are closed, others can’t pay rent, thousands of employees face uncertainty. At Perrier, we’ve been working alongside bars and bartenders for decades and we feel strongly that we need to do our part to help keep our beloved bar industry afloat during these unforeseen times. We really want to be there with them today, tomorrow and in the future and this initiative can certainly be a first step in the right direction.”
50 Best is focussed on how it can best support the rebirth of the bar community and will be continually revaluating how best to do this. The precise format of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2020 programme is under ongoing review and will be announced in the coming months.
All details of the campaign will be available on the 50 Best for Recovery webpage and Recovery Hub as they are announced, as well as via Instagram @50BestBars and Facebook @50BestBars.
