Liverpool restaurants celebrate £250,000 of life-changing charity gifts from diners’ £1 donations

Diners at two of the city’s most popular restaurants have helped raise a quarter of a million pounds for charity – by each making a single donation of just £1.

The money has been raised over the last 10 years by guests of Maray, which has sites in The Albert Dock and Bold Street, and more recently in Buyers Club in Hardman Street.

All four sites of the restaurants – including Maray in Manchester – have their own house cause and have supported charities like Liverpool’s WHISC (Women’s Health Information and Support Centre), Clatterbridge Cancer Charity and Asylum Link Merseyside.

Since 2016 they have asked people to pay an optional £1 which is added to the bill.

Tom White, brand director and co-founder of QVO Hospitality says: “Guests have helped us to collectively raise a staggering £250,000 for organisations who are doing incredible work to support a variety of communities across the North West.” 

Other charities they’ve fundraised for are Claire House Children’s Hospice, Zoe’s Place, Share Your Lunch, Team Oasis, Granby Press and Open Kitchen.

Tom adds: “It’s a simple way we can use our platform to tell thousands of people about the great work they are doing and raise money for them in the process.

“It’s a great amount of money that will have impacted the lives of a lot of people.

“And it’s the generosity of people who dine at Maray and Buyers who have achieved this.  We just facilitate it.” 

The idea came about a decade ago when Tom and his team were working with a humanitarian organisation called Action Against Hunger which works worldwide to support malnourished children.  It ran an initiative called Love Food Give Food with its hospitality business partners to add £1 to bills in September and October to raise money.

“We realised that £1 on the bill for that short amount of time raised a lot of money because everyone, when we communicated it to our guests, was really on board with it,” he explains.  “They knew where the money was going and there was a narrative behind it.

“So that was the catalyst, and we decided why don’t we keep doing it as it opens up doors to support different causes.

“Before we start working with any charity, our front of house teams meet them and so they are clued up on the projects, and guests respond really well to the chance to support local organisations.”

Tom goes on: “We are a values-led business and always have been, and it’s something that I personally believe that, if you have a platform of any sort or a sphere of influence, it’s important that you use that to help people within your means.

“If you can increase the amount of good, then you should.

“All the causes we support tend to be something someone in the team is passionate about or is suggested by one of the team, and it’s usually for a minimum of a year but often longer so we can build a relationship with them.”

He continues: “£1 is a small amount that can really add up.

“We wanted to say a massive thank you to people for continuing to help us make a difference, and to say let’s keep doing it.

“Guests who donate a £1 might not think about it afterwards or consider where that money’s gone, but every single person who’s dined with us over the last 10 years and has paid that £1 donation has had a part to play in raising this money which has had a huge impact on the local community.”

Find out more about QVO hospitality here.

Check out this Liverpool chef to appear on BBC’s Great British Menu.

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