Licensed venues across Australia can now apply for COVID-19 recovery support through Bundaberg Rum’s $11.5m Raising the Bar fund.
Regardless of whether your venue is currently open, only doing deliveries or can have customers on-site the fund is available to support recovery and rebuilding through the supply of equipment and services to approved applicants.
Diageo Australia said the types of support may include:
- essential safety equipment such as hand sanitiser and dispensers, PPE, and thermal scanners
- mobile bars, tables, umbrellas, and take-away/disposable containers
- consumer confidence-building through PR and media amplification
Angus McPherson, Managing Director of Diageo Australia, said: “Even in states where some restrictions have eased and venues have been able to reopen, there will be an ongoing financial burden on many venues that must now regularly purchase safety equipment and supplies such as hand sanitiser and PPE.
“Combined with the financial hit they’ve already taken following widespread lockdowns and severely restricted trading, Raising the Bar is about Bundaberg Rum helping our neighbourhood ‘local’ prepare for and get back to sustainable trading in this new environment so they can again be places for family and friends to come together and connect socially and safely.”
The application process outlines options to apply for immediate, medium, and/or long-term support.
The immediate and medium-term support packages aim to help venues with safety equipment and with hosting safe on-premise experiences for patrons, both indoors and outdoors.
The long-term support packages are geared to providing tailored solutions for venues to promote safe on-premise experiences including safe live sport viewing.
Venues can also apply for PR and media support to help promote their venue to patrons, increase footfall in line with capacity limits, and increase consumer confidence in their COVID-safe practices.
Diageo Australia has also said that while this is a Bundaberg Rum initiative venues do not need to be a Bundaberg Rum, or a Diageo Australia customer or stockist to apply.
Raising the Bar is also making a suite of free tools, templates and resources on the Diageo Bar Academy site freely available to any venue to help them operate safely, create memorable experiences for their guests, and look out for their employees.
McPherson added: “We want to help as many Australian bars, pubs and clubs as we can, so I encourage venues to head to the website and submit an application for Raising the Bar support.”
Applications are now open for all options and support will be awarded now through to end June 2022 or until support funding is exhausted, and you can find further information through the Raising the Bar website.