Endeavour Group has announced that more than 300 of its ALH Hotels across Australia will be supporting Rural Aid’s Parma for a Farmer campaign throughout the month of February.
The initiative sees a dollar from every chicken parmigiana sold this month donated to Rural Aid natural disaster relief funds.
This year’s edition of the campaign follows up the first rendition in 2018, during which hotels raised more than $98,000 during that year’s devastating drought.
Mario Volpe, managing director of ALH encouraged pub diners to put any parma versus parmy biases away, and focus on supporting a good cause with a good feed.
“As a Victorian, it’ll always be a parma for me, but it really doesn’t matter what you call it. Let’s put the parma versus parmy debate to one side this month and get behind this campaign to support our farmers.
“The chicken parmigiana remains our number one selling food item across all our hotels, and in any given month we sell tens of thousands of this pub menu staple,” Volpe said.
“Our chicken parmigianas are made from almost entirely Australian ingredients, and we know how much our customers love coming to our hotels for a parma and a schooner with family and friends – but we hope this month we can encourage a few extra people in to support a good cause.
“Our hotels are at the heart of communities right across Australia, and we are pleased to be able to band together to run this campaign and support our farmers who work so hard to feed the country, even in the face of drought, fires, floods and cyclones.”
Rural Aid CEO John Warlters expressed his delight at the return of the campaign.
“The Parma for a Farmer campaign during the recent drought helped Rural Aid to lend a helping hand to thousands of farmers at a time when they were doing it exceptionally tough,” he said.
“Now, many of our primary producers are facing a similarly challenging situation, only this time it is multiple floods, not drought, that have caused such widespread devastation.
“What better way to support farmers, who work against all odds to put food on our tables, than by ordering a delicious parma at the local watering hole.
“The money raised will go towards standing with our farmers in their moment of need, whether it’s through our financial assistance, free counselling, volunteering or water delivery programs,” Warlters concluded.