Organizers of the influential World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking have released details on a new campaign aimed at helping the devastated restaurant industry rebuild and recover from the worldwide shutdown due to COVID-19.
(Related: World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards 2019: The full list of winners)
In lieu of the awards, the organization has launched a campaign it’s calling “50 Best for Recovery,” a program that includes fundraising efforts to support restaurants worldwide, a digital content portal and a summit that will be held virtually this fall.
Along with corporate sponsors and donors, the fundraising efforts will also allow consumers and diners to support their favorite restaurants and chefs through fundraising efforts.
In the coming weeks, for instance, galloping gourmands will be able to bid on gastronomic experiences and dinners from some of the top-ranked chefs and restaurants on the list in a “Bid for Recovery” Auction scheduled to be held in June.
Chefs and bartenders from the list will also share their quarantine-friendly at-home recipes for households on lockdown in an e-book called “Home Comforts.”
For budding chefs, a social media contest will challenge at-home cooks to prepare dishes inspired by the cookbook, which will be judged by top chefs on social media.
(Related: Female trailblazers on the F&B scene who’ve overcome the odds)
A space will also feature content for restaurants, restaurateurs and chefs, but also for food lovers on how they can help sustain and rebuild the industry.
And instead of the gala red carpet event, which was originally scheduled to take place in June in Antwerp, Flanders next month, a virtual summit will be held in September, which will feature masterclasses, interviews and discussion forums on how to rebuild the world of haute gastronomy.
The next edition of the restaurant awards has been pushed back to 2021.
The results for Asia’s 50 Best Bars were recently announced via live stream on social media, where Singaporean bar Jigger & Pony took the top spot. This was in lieu of an awards ceremony that was originally to be held in Singapore’s Capitol Theatre, where bar professionals from all over the region would have converged to celebrate the best in the industry.
