The organisers of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, the annual celebration of restaurants around the world, have decided to replace its annual ranking – due to take place in Antwerp, Belgium, in June, but now postponed to 2021 – with a new campaign called 50 Best for Recovery.
Behind the initiative is a desire to provide financial relief while creating helpful resources for restaurant businesses as they move on from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The campaign, supported by longtime commercial partner S. Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, will consist of three branches. First, the 50 Best Recovery Fund will raise funds to support a range of non-profit organisations working in to aid the survival and eventual revival of the restaurant sector.
Tangible help to as many as possible
Second, the organisation has created the 50 Best Recovery Hub, which will act as a central point for content that can offer advice, information and inspiration for the wider sector. Finally, the team announced a major virtual summit, lasting several days, to take place in September. The Recovery Summit will be made up of the usual range of events that attendees of the annual celebrations have to come expect. Masterclasses, talks, case studies, interviews and discussion forums will include participants from the global gastronomic community.
“With 50 Best for Recovery, we aim to utilise our network, our relationships and our global reach to provide tangible help to as many restaurant businesses as possible across the world,” says William Drew, director of content for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
“We stand alongside our partners in supporting the gastronomic community as a whole and fervently hope we can assist in promoting and accelerating the rebirth of restaurants of all types after this unprecedented period of suffering. We truly believe we can and must all work in unison to give back to the restaurant sector and ultimately help shape a fresh and positive future.”
Next, 50 Best will kick off the fund-raising initiatives, including a 50 Best Bid for Recovery Auction in June offering food lovers to bid for gastronomic experiences. Accompanying the auction will be the publication of an e-cookbook called Home Comforts: simple lockdown recipes from the world’s best chefs and bartenders.
The annual list of the world’s finest dining destinations will not be released this year in any format. Instead, those restaurants voted onto the 2020 ranking-designate will be fully recognised in 2021, circumstances permitting.
For more information, visit the 50 Best for Recovery website.
Tina Nielsen
