News

Bundaberg Rum rallying hope through Raising the Bar initiative

Through their Raising the Bar initiative, Bundaberg Rum has been supplying ‘Bear Care’ packages worth $11.5 million in total to hospitality venues across Australia. In collaboration with global beverage company Diageo, over 1500 hospitality venues from North Queensland to Karratha are being supported by this initiative.

The packages include COVID-19 related equipment such as hand sanitisers, dispenser stations, masks, glove, floor demarcations (stickers) and digital thermometers.

“We haven’t had to buy hand sanitiser since we received the support from Bundaberg Rum, saving us hundreds of dollars,” said Dean Fuber, Venue Manager of Hotel Mackay which is receiving support from the program.

The initiative also delivers medium- and long-term support through their ‘Bear Garden’ and ‘Bearspoke’ packages. These packages provide outdoor furniture to increase safe open-air spaces for socialising.

Angus McPherson, managing director at Diageo Australia said, “We all know Australians want to make the most of the great weather and catch up with their mates at the local pub, bar or club. The Raising the Bar initiative is our way of making socialising this summer as safe as possible.”

Raising the Bar aims to restore the confidence of patrons to return to their ‘local’, with a survey finding that patron confidence increased 41 per cent from August 2020 to January 2021.

The survey also revealed that 67 per cent of people attributed this confidence to the COVID-19 safety equipment provided by initiatives like Raising the Bar.

“Any licence venue can apply for this support and we really encourage all hospitality to get involved because we want to help venues across the country emerge stronger out of this pandemic,” said Mr McPherson.

Venue owners can apply for the Raising the Bar support package here.

Send this to a friend