Pepsi will ensure a meal to a restaurant worker during a bid to help the struggling sector, for every such order.
In the last three months, the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore the subsequent lockdown has taken a nasty hit on many service industries in India. Amongst them the restaurants are worst affected and had to shut operations to slow the speed of the virus. For a sector that’s valued at USD 4 billion, with the National Restaurant Association of India counting quite 500000+ restaurants as members, the virus spells disaster in additional ways than one. Aside from food supply interruptions, restaurants are now facing strict, restrictive conditions for reopening after months of being shuttered down.
The restaurant sector is reeling. Not only has the pandemic and therefore the subsequent lockdown made it shut its doors, now, when the lockdown has lifted in many parts of India, people remain hesitant to go to these spaces while governments remain apprehensive about their reopening.
“The restaurant sector is the second largest employer after agriculture,” noted Anurag Katriar, president of NRAI and executive of deGustibus Hospitality Pvt Ltd. And for such a sector to stay shut doesn’t bode well. Kartiar remarked that it could lead to 30% of the industry workforce losing their jobs which when translated in numbers is about 22 lakh.
The restaurant business and its workers are badly affected. Many of those workers are migrants from small towns and villages who depend upon these jobs to send a refund to their families.
Now, Pepsi’s campaign is in partnership with Swiggy and therefore the National Restaurant Association of India or the NRAI. Called #PepsiSaveOurRestaurants, you add any beverage to your Swiggy food order and Pepsi will ensure one meal to a restaurant worker. It aims to supply approximately 2.5 million meals to the distressed restaurant community workers. Wunderman Thompson is that the agency behind the ad.
Please note that it says you can add any soft drinks to your food menu on Swiggy, not just Pepsi or the opposite brand from PepsiCo. “The intent was to urge consumers involved within the method of helping the restaurant workers who have served them with much warmth for therefore long.
As from a brand perspective, the actual fact that contribution is applicable to any beverage which is ordered, shows the commitment to the larger cause, ” said a PepsiCo India spokesperson in an email and added, “When you’d wish to assist , the cause must take precedence over one’s business priorities given community service is all about winning with purpose.”
But, as PepsiCo India’s spokesperson said, “In the meanwhile, the need of the hour is to help folks that are impacted by the tough times which we are committed to supporting as many members of the marginalized restaurant workers as possible.”
