Guinness ‘Raising the Bar’ in on-trade support
Diageo Ireland Marketing Director Hilary Quinn breaks the good news to Paul Corcoran, Manager of Toner’s Pub in Baggot Street, Dublin.
The fund is part of parent company Diageo plc’s £80 million (€88.5m) global programme announced in support of pubs and bars emerging from the Covid-19 lockdown.
The two-year programme goes onstream next month and Diageo’s recovery fund will support major hospitality centres around the world including Dublin, Belfast, London, Edinburgh, New York, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Sydney.
From today the on-trade across Ireland can register an interest in getting financial support from Diageo for Social Distancing equipment, digital skills training and contactless technology via www.mydiageo.com.
‘Raising the Bar’ resulted from a global survey by Diageo of bar owners to identify what they’d need to re-open following lockdown.
Top priorities emerged as hygiene measures, digital support and practical equipment to transform how their outlets would work.
Bar owners will receive regular updates on best practice training and resources and be able to participate in global surveys to share insights as they build their businesses back up.
Here, the programme will be focussed on the provision of practical equipment and the confidence-building measures needed for outlets to re-open and operate on a safe and sustainable basis. Guinness will consult with the on-trade as to how best to direct future funding over the two-year period.
“We have launched ‘Raising the Bar’ as so many outlets have been impacted by this crisis and badly need help to open their doors again,” commented Diageo Chief Executive Ivan Menezes, “We’re calling on governments around the world to provide long-term recovery packages to help the hospitality sector. These businesses play an essential role in bringing people together to socialise and celebrate – something that we’ve all missed so much during this terrible crisis – and sustain hundreds of millions of jobs, often providing a first foot on the employment ladder for young people.”
Oliver Loomes, Managing Director of Diageo Ireland, added, “Through this €14 million ‘Raising the Bar’ Fund our ambition is to support pubs in Ireland in welcoming back customers in the safest possible way, when they are ready to do so.
“It’s more important than ever to work with our partners to create a safe and sustainable night-time economy together. This fund is our commitment to the future of the local pub in Ireland. It will also be essential for the authorities on this island to work together with our industry to build both a safe and a sustainable hospitality and bar sector”.
UN forecasts hospitality to be one of hardest hit
The UN’s International Labour Organisation has forecast that 436 million enterprises worldwide face serious disruption and one in six young people will be unemployed due to Covid-19. The hospitality sector will be one of the hardest hit as pubs, bars, clubs and restaurants provide hundreds of millions of jobs for many full- and part-time workers.
As governments begin to ease lockdown measures, the public want to come together again to connect with their community and socialise safely. By providing access to free digital support, technology, training and equipment, Diageo aims to help any bar, anywhere open its doors again.
More details will be announced next month.
