Make a difference in the lives of the hospitality employees impacted by the pandemic.

Michael Butler, a veteran in the luxury food & beverage domain with 30+ years of experience across multiple hospitality brands, has started a hospitality support fund for those Indian hospitality workers, who have lost their employment because of the global pandemic. The pandemic has impacted countless hospitality professionals globally and many people have lost their jobs. In some countries, hospitality workers have been able to receive government aid from local authorities or social security systems to help get them through these unprecedented times.

Understanding the limited support available for the hospitality workers in India who have had to be laid off because of this global crisis, Michael has decided to start a fund to help hospitality workers living in India to help try and keep them off the poverty line. Michael Butler is asking for support from anyone from across the globe who would like to contribute by donating what they can afford.

These frontline hospitality workers are the wonderful people who have served both local and international travellers and have made countless stays and experiences memorable and culturally enriching at their respective hotels and restaurants. Many travellers, business professionals have had wonderful experiences and benefited from the great work these hospitality professionals have given, and in some way, we hope that because of these memories people will donate some monetary support. This is our opportunity to say thank you and show care and empathy through helping those in the hospitality industry in India who are going through these tough times. Together we can be stronger.

WHY INDIAN HOSPITALITY WORKERS?

“The idea behind the initiative is to continue to support my personal quest – to aid the hospitality professionals in India to thrive and succeed. I have been working on this mission through various personal as well as professional projects during my time as the regional corporate F&B Director for Hyatt India and Europe. India has been very close to my heart for many reasons – I am in awe of the rich heritage and the diversity that this wonderful country possesses and I have been fortunate to have been able to work with great minds in the field of hospitality in India.

I have seen and read various news articles and guest sentiment reports, I came across one that had mentioned a situation which has forced many restaurants and hotels to close again with the risk of 30% of them being shut permanently, I started then to make my own inquiries asking what and who had been let go by hotels in particular and subsequently asked what was happening to the people who were let go. I could see that the Indian hospitality workers were running out of money which will lead to extreme poverty, I could see only two choices, either choose to be a witness to people being impacted or take some positive action. I then came up with the idea of walking from Zurich to Geneva which is 265 km as I felt I needed to make a statement and doing this journey on foot in a chefs jacket – is a statement for our industry, as many people lose their jobs, businesses close and yet the financial markets have been having all-time highs, which does not make sense to me.

I hope that through this initiative, we can support as many of the Indian hospitality workers who have lost their jobs – I am hoping we can demonstrate that globally we can get through tough times together and show that hospitality is an industry where people can pull together to help others colleagues who are going through tough times.”

The fund has been set up online and there is 100% transparency being maintained in collection of funds as well as the distribution criteria. The process will entail the requesting employee to submit an email with an attachment of their relieving letters from past employers. Preference would be to non-management workers and those who were laid off the earliest. We will also validate the claims with local support teams to ensure the neediest and deserving ones get support at the earliest.

Also, Michael has created the F&B support forum group on LinkedIn where there are hospitality professionals from across the world contributing, collaborating, and supporting virtually to help revive and sustain the wonderful F&B industry. We will also seek support from the forum members to validate the requests for aid and help generate some funds. The link to the forum is https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8918951/ which has over 12300 hospitality professionals who have been supporting each other through this pandemic and engaging in sharing information and having conversations on key hospitality articles.

Based on the application requests we receive; Michael will work with the local support teams to validate the requests and we will grant the aid depending upon who has been out of a job for the longest time owing to the pandemic and how will they benefit most from the aid amount. In cases where there are multiple earning members in the same family, we will then support the ones who are single earners.

The fund has been created late June 2020, and Michael will officially launch the fund through a 265 km walk from Zurich to Geneva on 20th of July 2020. This walk is spread across several days, where Michael will wear a chef coat to show solidarity and support for the hospitality colleagues. We believe this will help raise more awareness and generate contributions for those who are in need.

We have received some contributions, but we will wait for the walk and to get some more funds before we can start distribution. The requests for support have already started to pour in. The status of the fund collection can be seen in real time on this link – https://www.gofundme.com/manage/Indian-workers-hospitality-care-fund

Also, you can donate through PayPal https://paypal.me/pools/campaign/114126669855942464

In addition, you can follow Michael on LinkedIn for real time updates on the progress as well as to support this noble cause

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelbutleronline

Let’s come together, to support the humble hospitality workers who have always been there for us, transforming moments into memories.