Bacardi leads liquor brands in coronavirus donations to unemployed workers
As part of its #RaiseYourSpirits campaign, Bacardi is donating $3M to food and drink workers
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As the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on bars and restaurants across the United States, some big brands are stepping up to help workers who have been impacted.
One of those brands is Bacardi.
The liquor maker on Tuesday launched the #RaiseYourSpirits campaign, which promises $3 million in financial aid and support to struggling food and drink businesses. That funding is in addition to another $1 million pledged by the company’s Patron brand last week.
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“Bacardi is a family company, and for us, business is personal. We don’t have all the answers today on how best to help everywhere, but we are committed to do what we can to see our industry through this crisis,” Bacardi Limited Chief Executive Officer Mahesh Madhavan said in a statement to FOX Business.
“These may be the darkest of days for bars and restaurants, but I am certain that when we come out on the other side, people will emerge from isolation with a renewed zest to live life to the fullest and celebrate together.”
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Bacardi’s donation will go directly to established nonprofits that can quickly provide aid to workers on the frontlines, including Another Round, Another Rally, CORE, the James Beard Foundation, Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation and Tales of the Cocktail.
But Bacardi isn’t the only brand donating.
"Dead Pool" actor Ryan Reynolds, the owner of Aviation Gin, announce the #TipYourBartenders initiative, which will kick off with a $15,000 donation to the United States Bartenders Guild and will add an additional 30 percent tip for every bottle delivered through online partners like Drizzly, ReserveBar, MiniBar and Total Wine.
In addition to Bacardi and Aviation, restaurant mogul Danny Meyer is foregoing his entire compensation and instead donating it to the Union Square Hospitality Group, which owns a collection of eateries in New York. He also asked his executive team to take pay cuts.
Help is coming from local business owners, too. Bryan Morin of Jersey Shore pizza shop Federico's didn’t want his staff to take a financial hit, so he took out a $50,000 line of credit and promised to keep his 20 employees on the payroll.
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There are roughly 50,000 COVID-19 cases in the country, and as part of efforts to flatten the curve, states across the country have told businesses to close and residents to stay home.
Early estimates suggest that at least a million workers could have lost their jobs in March: The Labor Department has reported the number of Americans filing applications for jobless benefits jumped to 281,000 for the week ending March 14, the highest level since June 2017, and the numbers of people seeking unemployment benefits could surge.