More than 100 restaurants will be asking customers to add one pound to their restaurant bills in the run up to Christmas, in a scheme to support the homeless. This simple fund-raising technique last year not only generated almost £160,000 for homeless charities but had the support of diners, too - just 1% chose not to pay.
This year the number of participating restaurants has jumped from 85 to 128 in London, with 18 others taking part in Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow. Streetsmart, the charity founded four years ago to organise the campaign, says the sum raised this year could be much higher than last, boosted by sponsorship from Barclays Bank and publicity from London's Evening Standard.
Hospitality firms are well placed to help the homeless, either by providing a bit of seasonal cheer, or helping with longer-term funding, and more businesses are warming to the idea. Although a minority of the 560 restaurants that Streetsmart approaches actually sign up, owners are becoming more receptive, according to director Nick Emley.
"They tend to be quite individualist, but this is an opportunity for them to come together in an act of goodness," Emley says. The money raised is spent on material needs such as camp beds, sleeping bags and meals, but funds also go towards support and counselling to help the homeless get back on their feet (see panel opposite).
One beneficiary is Centrepoint, a well-established London charity with 16 shelters for young homeless people, which has received £30,000 in the past two years. "Streetsmart has been a significant support to us and we hope it will be again," says Angela Basso, corporate development officer.
Hospitality firms are also helping in more direct ways. Unsold sandwiches at Prèt à Manger are given to Crisis at the end of each day and make up a significant part of the three tonnes of fresh food the charity delivers weekly to homeless projects around the capital. In December, the company is also donating 10p from each sandwich sold, which will enable Crisis to provide a hot Christmas lunch for as many as 7,000 homeless people.
Several restaurants have individual projects. Last year, Conran's Bluebird provided fresh food for the homeless centre run by the Kensington and Chelsea local authority over the Christmas period, while Rules, near London's Covent Garden, will be providing a traditional turkey dinner for the St Martin's day centre in Trafalgar Square.
Rules has also provided long-term support for St Martin's over the past seven years, supplying meals on Wednesdays and Sundays. "At first we cooked the food on the premises and took it down the road, but we realised there were public health implications, so now we deliver it raw to be cooked in their new kitchen," says owner John Mayhew. "They particularly like our steak and kidney pie. I have spent some time down there and one thing I have found is that they like meat - you won't find many vegetarians."
Another London restaurant with its own project is Green's in Duke Street, which provides a Christmas dinner for 200 homeless people at the World's End Community Centre in Chelsea. "As a successful restaurant, we feel that it's nice to put something back into the community," says Green's director, David Vickerstaff.
A number of restaurant chains have initiatives, usually carried out at local level. McDonald's provides help in the form of meal vouchers, which managers have discretion to hand out to charities. Hotels are less actively involved at Christmas, but can be generous providers of materials. London's Savoy hotel donates surplus blankets, linen and towels to Bruce House, a London homeless charity, and projects around the country have been benefiting from Whitbread's rebranding of Swallow hotels with gifts of redundant furniture, fittings and equipment.
Hotels help in other ways, for instance, donating short breaks as prizes for Christmas raffles, with the proceeds going to charity. Forte's Posthouse hotel in Cambridge raised more than £1,000 for Hospitality Action this way last year, adding to the £5,500 it collected through other activities.
It is hoped efforts such as these will help the homeless to feel they are not forgotten when everyone else is having fun. But it isn't a one-way activity, as hospitality employees can benefit too, points out Posthouse Cambridge's general manager, Robin Hutton. "The staff really get involved and it's excellent for their morale," he says.