The organisation behind The World’s 50 Best Restaurants is replacing its annual list, awards and related events with a three-pronged campaign, entitled 50 Best for Recovery – supporting restaurants worldwide in partnership with S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. The aim is to provide tangible financial relief where possible, as well as create and collate helpful resources for restaurant businesses as they emerge from the pandemic and seek actionable advice and support. The launch of 50 Best for Recovery follows the announcement in March that the proposed event programme for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020 – which was due to take place in Antwerp, Flanders in June – has been postponed until 2021. Furthermore, 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. It announced the 50 Best Recovery Fund which … [Read more...]

BRUGES: The World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism which was scheduled to take place in Bruges, Belgium in early June 2020 has been postponed to June 2021. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Flemish government, organisational partners UNWTO and the Basque Culinary Centre, Tourism Flanders and the city of Bruges have decided to postpone the event. The UNWTO Forum will provide the unique opportunity in 2021 to exchange experiences on how to face these challenging times. The Flemish minister of tourism Zuhal Demir said "Given the worldwide developments surrounding the coronavirus, postponing the UNWTO World Forum on Gastronomy Tourism is the only right decision. Public health and supporting the tourist and gastronomic sector are now our priority, so that we can come out stronger here and put Flemish gastronomy back in the spotlight in 2021. ” The event was set to welcome around 500 policy makers, chefs, entrepreneurs and academics to the Belgian city to participate in the sixth edition … [Read more...]

The gastro-business in Poland, like in the rest of the world, was hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic. Albeit itself in need, the industry is supporting those in need by feeding medical personnel and the elderly who have been left without any help. WARSAW: Friday 13th March was unlike any other Friday 13th for restaurateurs, cafe owners and confectioners in Poland. To slow down the increase of new cases of coronavirus, the Polish government decided to introduce a state of epidemic in the country. The decree was followed by various restrictions aimed at curbing the epidemic, some of them concerning restaurants and the gastronomy sector. Starting from March 14, all gastronomy businesses - restaurants, cafes, or confectioneries - had to close down to guests. Only takeout and delivery sales have been allowed since. Although the decision was to be expected, no one was prepared for it. The timing and the scale came as a heavy blow to the industry. Restaurants are a specific type … [Read more...]

ANTWERP: The World's 50 Best restaurants event that was set to be organised in Antwerp, Belgium on 2 June 2020 will not take place. 50 Best announced today that they have cancelled the 2020 event and this will take place in 2021, circumstances permitting. The organisation announced that it will not release its annual list in ranked format this year. "50 Best have taken the decision to postpone the event programme in Antwerp until 2021 if the situation allows. Its destination hosts, Visit Flanders and the City of Antwerp look forward to welcoming the gastronomic community next summer, when we sincerely hope that restaurants will be underway in a process of rebuilding and recovery." Willam Drew, the director of content for The World's 50 Best Restaurants said: "Given the circumstances globally, in 2020, we will put all our efforts into helping the restaurant sector to fight for its future, as well as assisting in the work that chefs and restauranteurs are doing to help … [Read more...]

Nick Kokonas, the founder and CEO of Tock, a restaurant experience booking engine and co-owner of the Alinea Restaurant Group that includes Alinea, Next, The Aviary, Roister and St. Clair Supper Club has reported a considerable increase in the number of restaurant cancellations over the past few days. As the spike in coronavirus (COVID 19) cases rises around the world, anonymous data that represents restaurants, wineries, events in 30 countries and hundreds of cities around the world have shown a sharp decline of over 22 per cent. Writing on Twitter, Kokonas said that whole there has been a slight decline that began several weeks ago, a sharp decline took place in the past week. "Overall booking inflow is down 22 per cent while cancellations have spiked." He said that the good news is that inflow of bookings continued to exceed cancellations for restaurant bookings. However, Tock also sells experiences, i.e. restaurants that normally release tables on certain days as pre-paid … [Read more...]

KOBARID: Ana Ros and Valter Kramer have decided to close Hisa Franko from Monday 16 March to Tuesday 31 March. Ana Roš, the award winning chef of the Slovenian restaurant in Kobarid said "After every rain, the sun comes out. And when the sun comes out, everything is so beautiful." This had to be a special month for Ana Ros and Walter Kramer. They were set to welcome people attending the European Food Summit, which has also been postponed, and they had announced workshops for clients throughout the month of March. Moreover, the first book by Ana Ros called Sun and Rain was also released this month. This is her first book. Through a collection of essays, recollections, recipes and photos, she shares the idyllic landscape that inspires her. Contributors to the book were Andrea Petrini and Kaja Sajovic. "We are taking precautionary measures to keep you and us safe from the new coronavirus (COVID-19). we are supporting each initiative that may help to overcome this … [Read more...]

Over the past few days it has become difficult to keep track of the news. The minute you set to write something, another piece of news changes everything. For most of us over the past few weeks we have been living in unprecedented territory. Unchartered waters. Moments after I was about to write about the voluntary decision of some Italian chefs to close their restaurants came the decision to close everything down. Elsewhere, from the United States to Slovenia, from Malta to Spain, restaurants are voluntarily closing down their places to safeguard their staff and also clients. In Belgium, the country where I live, restaurants, bars and cafes' seemed to have been taken by surprise when the government announced that they would have to close from today. Many seemed to be baffled by the decision though it is not only inevitable but also necessary if the coronavirus is to be stopped. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rcEpcJPSN/?igshid=1q7eu5sy8l1ab Kobe Desramaults showed … [Read more...]

MEXICO: Food for Soul, a foundation set up by Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore to feed the poor has announced that together with Palace Foundation it will open the doors to Refettorio Mérida in Mexico. This is the first North American project which will open to celebrate Mérida’s rich culture and to engage the local community in building a more inclusive and equitable society. By bringing different people and perspectives together in a welcoming space, the aim of the Refettorio is that of building a sense of community and active participation, that is respectful of the many layers that make up present-day Mérida. Historically, the city has always been a melting pot of cultures. From the Maya to the Spanish, to more recent migrations from Korea and Lebanon, Mérida’s social fabric is a complex and colourful one. The semi-isolated nature of the Yucatán peninsula, considered too far and too difficult to reach from other parts of Mexico, meant that the area was able to … [Read more...]