Sydney, Australia, 4 May 2020: Unilever Food Solutions Australia (UFS) have joined forces with the Restaurant & Catering Association of Australia (R&CA) to bolster support of the #EatAloneTogether campaign in support of Australia’s restaurant industry which has been significantly impacted by public health mandates to close dine-in service and only serve takeaway, in a national effort to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
R&CA is the peak industry association representing over 47,000 restaurants, cafes and caterers across Australia, while UFS is a supplier of high-quality professional food ingredients and services for the food service industry. R&CA and UFS share a common goal to support the restaurant industry through this challenging period, by helping to keep their doors open and get back in business as soon as possible, once dine-in restrictions are lifted.
From the high-end, hatted restaurants to the casual local café or large restaurant chains, dine-in services across Australia have been impacted by COVID-19. #EatAloneTogether has brought together high-profile Australian dining and entertainment personalities including Matt Moran, Neil Perry and Maggie Beer to encourage Australians to continue ordering takeaway or dine-in from their favourite local restaurants and cafés.
#EatAloneTogether is calling on all casual dining outlets, restaurants and chain accounts who are open for takeaway and delivery to join the movement to generate support from the dining public for their favourite local venue.
Yezdi Daruwalla, Managing Director Unilever Food Solutions, Australia & New Zealand, said: “Our restaurant industry is essential to the economic and social prosperity of millions of Australians. Eating out is an integral part of the Australian culture and the restaurant industry provides employment for people across the nation. If we want to continue enjoying our local neighbourhood cafes and restaurants, we need to support them now so that their doors can remain open when we come out on the other side of this pandemic.
“We are encouraging all of the cafes and restaurants that are open for takeaway to join the movement, so that their local communities can support them.”
Wes Lambert, CEO of Restaurant & Catering Association of Australia said “#EatAloneTogether is about helping your favourite local restaurant, café or venue, survive post COVID-19. It is more important now than ever before to get out and patronise your favourite local to ensure they can be here, continuing to serve, post COVID-19.”
“It is fantastic to have Unilever Food Solutions on board, a leading food service supplier to our industry, to help spread the word that our favourite venues are open for business and doing their best to survive this crisis.”
The campaign also encourages diners to keep celebrating those special moments and continue to share meals together, by relying on digital connectivity to allow them to have family and friends over for dinner. This can be done by ordering from separate venues and sharing that meal together or having multiple households order from the same venue to form a ‘digital reservation’ at their favourite venue.
#EatAloneTogether launched in April with the intent to expand the campaign until restrictions are lifted and Australians can go back to enjoying dine-in experiences at their local restaurant.
#ENDS#
About Unilever Food Solutions
Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) is the dedicated foodservice business of Unilever, providing high-quality professional food ingredients and services created by chefs, for chefs. unileverfoodsolutions.com.au
Disclaimer: R&CA, Unilever Food Solutions and all associated chain accounts support the Federal Government's guidance around social distancing, and we advise all Australians to follow the rules on essential gatherings set out by the Department of Health and specific to their State. For more information see: https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/how-to-protect-yourself-and-others-from-coronavirus-covid-19/limits-on-public-gatherings-for-coronavirus-covid-19