Covid-19: how alcohol brands are helping bartenders
Photo by Alex Voulgaris on Unsplash
Covid-19 coronavirus has caused many bartenders to lose their jobs or become temporarily unemployed. Alcohol brands act to help them.
Bar closures due to the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic have left many bartenders unemployed. Brand representatives, bartenders now have another way to support themselves financially in the face of the impossibility of working in the bar.
With the impossibility of a successful business such as open bars and restaurants, the sale of alcoholic beverages is nevertheless on the rise. According to IWSR alcohol sales increased significantly by 40% at the end of the week of 22 March.
Many brands are still loyal to their bartenders and are therefore using budgets to help unemployed bartenders. A good portion of them are donating cash to bartender support funds. For example, the United States Bartenders Guild (USBG) and the Restaurant Workers’ Community Fund.
- Brown Forman: $1 million donation to charities that support affected bartenders.
- Molson-Coors: $1 million donation to the USBG.
- Diageo: $1.2 million in the United Kingdom.
- Jameson: $500,000 to the USBG.
Other brands are getting creative with marketing strategies, pivoting to help bartenders on a personal level. They are buying meals, hiring bartenders for one-off campaigns, financing take-away branded cocktails and organizing cocktail competitions, all with the aim of putting money directly into the bartenders’ pockets.
Other initiatives include making a virtual Happy Hour and several brands are sponsoring this activity. For example, Daniella Veras (writer) and Jackie Summers, founder of Sorel Liqueur, run a virtual happy hour every night, sponsored by a different liquor brand and highlighting a different bartender. Along with the happy hour, they discuss cocktail recipes, favorite brands and how to relieve anxiety during confinement.
Don’t drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly.
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