50 Best for Recovery

The 50 Best organisation – which runs The World’s 50 Best Bars and Asia’s 50 Best Bars – stands with the global bar industry as it faces up to the coronavirus pandemic.

We are working with our partners in supporting the bar world and believe that we have a key role to assist in accelerating the rebirth of bars across the globe after this truly harrowing period. We must all work in unison to give back to the community, so that the bars can get back into the business of creating memories for guests that last a lifetime.

50 Best for Recovery is our overarching programme, in partnership with Perrier, to stand with the global bar community and overcome these uniquely difficult times. Our aim is to provide tangible financial relief for the hospitality industry, as well as to offer helpful resources for bar businesses as they emerge from the pandemic and seek actionable advice and support.

Here is how we are responding to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recovery Fund

Launched with the generous backing of founding donor Perrier, our Recovery Fund is contributing to the global recovery of the hospitality sector. Funds are being raised through donations from 50 Best’s partners as well as a range of initiatives through which consumers can give back to their beloved bar community.

As of September 1, the Recovery Fund had raised US$ 1.23 million through its fundraising activities, of which at least 50% is going directly to independent bars and restaurants via grants, with additional donations being made to non-profits around the world supporting the industry while feeding the most vulnerable in society. The Recovery Fund remains open to receive further donations. 

Our fundraising initiatives include our first ever e-cookbook, entitled Home Comforts: simple lockdown recipes from the world’s best chefs and bartenders, featuring exclusive cocktail pairings from 50 Best bartenders. The recipe book is available to download for a $10/£8 minimum donation to the Recovery Fund. 

Donate $10 to download Home Comforts

The 50 Best ‘Bid for Recovery’ Auction ran from July 3-12, when cocktail, food and travel enthusiasts were offered the opportunity to bid for out-of-this-world experiences and items donated by the bars and bartenders featured on our most recent list, as well as some stellar experiences by our partner brands. We are extremely grateful to everyone who participated in the auction, as all proceeds went directly into the Recovery Fund to help boost bars and restaurants around the world.

We are encouraging all bar and cocktail lovers to make a donation. No donation could ever be too big or too small, and every action – from spreading the word to buying the Home Comforts e-book – will help hospitality businesses survive this crisis.

To support the 50 Best for Recovery programme in disbursing the funds raised through our initiatives, we have established the World’s 50 Best Recovery CIC, a not-for-profit community interest company that is distributing all proceeds of the Recovery Fund to bars, restaurants and non-profit organisations supporting the sector in the following ways:

Direct grants: the World’s 50 Best Recovery CIC is making direct contributions to bars and restaurants with grants of up to US $5,000 per establishment. Applications were open between July 27 and August 2 and are currently closed. For all the information about the process, please see here. To view the full list of 217 bars and restaurants across 53 countries that received a grant in September 2020, please see here.

Non-profit organisations: the World’s 50 Best Recovery CIC is making additional donations to a number of charitable organisations that it has identified as supporting hospitality businesses and their staff, as well as feeding those most in need. These include:

• A $5,000 donation to the Singapore Cocktail Bar Association (Singapore)
• A $40,000 donation to Lee Initiative’s Restaurant Reboot Relief Program (US)
• A $40,000 donation to Black Urban Growers (US)
• A $40,000 donation to Nosso Prato (Brazil)
• A $40,000 donation to the Eat Out Restaurant Relief Fund (South Africa)
• A $40,000 donation to the National Restaurant Association of India’s Feed the Needy campaign (India)
• A $6,000 donation to Horeca Next (Belgium)
• A $25,000 donation to Ambasciatori del Gusto (Italy)
• A $40,000 donation to Chefs for Spain, the Spanish arm of World Central Kitchen (Spain)

1 million meals: the World’s 50 Best Recovery CIC also joins forces with Social Gastronomy Movement, a global network of organisations across 38 different countries, in its Food Solidarity Fund intending to provide 1 million meals to those most in need with a donation of $127,000.

Recovery Hub

On our Recovery Hub, we are gathering and generating content that offers advice, information and inspiration for the sector, as well as for cocktail lovers looking to play their part in sustaining and rebuilding our industry. Here, we are sharing inspirational initiatives from bartenders around the world as well as championing ways in which the bar world is giving back during the coronavirus pandemic.

Through our #PassTheShaker social media campaign, in which a selection of The World’s 50 Best Bars are showing consumers how to make their signature drinks and introducing them to the initiatives and tools they are utilising to stay in business during the current crisis, we are also seeking to spread cocktail knowledge, solidarity and useful information around the world.

Visit the Recovery Hub

 

The World's 50 Best Bars 2020

As the global bar sector moves into the next stage of recovery, 50 Best unveiled a list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2020 on 5th November during a virtual ceremony. In extensive consultations with industry figures, our Academy Chairs, bar owners, bartenders and partners, we received widespread support for releasing a ranking that aimed to bind the community even closer together. See the list of The World's 50 Best Bars 2020. 

 

The 50 Best team continues to offer its heartfelt support to all those businesses and individuals suffering from the effects of the global pandemic. We are hugely grateful to all those in the hospitality world who are dedicating their time and skill to help others, as well as to our partners.

We understand that bar businesses are currently in turmoil and realise that some of these bars might not even make it to the point where they are able to reopen. Even though the ongoing situation has, and will continue to, impart unprecedented hardship upon us all, it will also serve to remind us what is possible when we pull together.