NEW DELHI: Diageo India has partnered with National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) to vaccinate its F&B trade partners, registered under the Raising the Bar programme.
Through this initiative, Diageo India aims to support 20,000 employees from the industry by providing them both doses of the vaccine.
The F&B industry has witnessed severe impact in the past year with multiple lockdowns and subsequent revenue losses impacting the businesses as well as employees.
As cities begin to reopen, safety and wellbeing of employees is of utmost importance, Diageo India aims to help bars, pubs and restaurants serving alcohol in India, open its doors again.
The initiative, that has already been underway since June 2021, gives employees of the 1500 outlets registered under Raising the Bar program an opportunity to get their jabs at select hospitals, with whom NRAI has partnered, across Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and Goa.
Commenting on the initiative, Shweta Jain, (Vice President Luxury Commercial, Key Accounts India & South Asia), Diageo India said, “Diageo India has been at the forefront, supporting the bar & hospitality community through programs like Raising the Bar & World Class during the pandemic. The revival of this sector is vital to the economy and to the cultural ecosystems of cities. As the F&B industry in India opens operations, our aim is to provide enhanced safety measures to bring back employee and consumer confidence to return to the places they cherish.”
Launched in June 2020, ‘Raising the Bar’ is an INR 75 crore revival and recovery program that supports pubs, bars and restaurants and helps businesses welcome customers back and recover from the pandemic. As a part of this program, Diageo India and NRAI will now provide necessary support to the F&B industry during the pandemic by covering the costs for the vaccines for all restaurant employees.
Speaking about this, Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI; Founder & Managing Director of Indigo Hospitality Pvt Ltd said, “I sincerely thank Diageo India for their thoughtful gesture towards our industry during these difficult times. This is a beautiful example of the industry and their channel partners coming together to collectively combat a huge crisis. This initiative will further cement the relationship between the F&B Fraternity and Diageo India, and NRAI Vaccination drive will ensure that the staff of our member restaurants resume work quickly, creating a safe environment for our guests. I truly appreciate the efforts by Diageo India and sincerely hope that other major stakeholders in the F&B ecosystem will follow this graceful example.”
