These Organizations Are Uplifting the Hospitality Industry

Within the alcohol and hospitality industry, it’s always a good time to honor people and organizations engaged in employee welfare and well-being. So let’s shine a spotlight on the winners of the 2024 Grand Recipients from the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation (TOTCF), announced earlier this week.

As chosen by the Foundation’s Philanthropy & Development Committee, the grant recipients include Another Round, Another Rally (Phoenix, Arizona), Focus on Health (USA) and Safe Bars (Washington, D.C.). Presented by the TOTCF and supported by Cointreau, $75,000 will be distributed amongst the grant recipients. To date, TOTCF has granted more than $525,000 in awards to “those who are actively improving the global hospitality landscape.”

“It has been a privilege to acknowledge and support these remarkable organizations through our 2024 Philanthropy & Development initiatives,” said Eileen Wayner, Chief Executive Officer of Tales of the Cocktail Foundation. “Another Round, Another Rally, Focus on Health and Safe Bars are making meaningful contributions that directly uplift our hospitality industry, and they exemplify the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s mission to educate, advance and support our communities.”

Tales of the Cocktail is an annual New Orleans drinks industry extravaganza; this year, InsideHook’s drinks newsletter The Spill was a sponsor of both Meet the Distillers and Beyond the Bar, the latter a series of programming put together by the TOTCF that is “more about the things that we need to feel complete and go to work every day well-balanced,” as board member John Gakuru told us. Part of the mission of the TOTCF and Beyond the Bar is to award grants to organizations enhancing the lives of hospitality workers.

How Beyond the Bar Became a Vital Resource for the Drinks Community

Developed at Tales of the Cocktail, the BTB platform is tackling wellness, substance abuse and mental health issues

A little more about the grant recipients from this year:

Another Round, Another Rally offers educational scholarships to the bartender community, particularly historically excluded voices. They also provide emergency assistance to those employed in restaurants, bars and hotels. The TOTCF Grant will go towards expanding their mentorship program, Skylight, to include a version of the program for Spanish-speaking members of the hospitality industry.
Focus on Health places its emphasis on wellness programs for drinks professionals. The TOTCF grant will be used for the creation of their Harm Reduction training module to destigmatize discussions and provide resources and tools around drug use.
Safe Bars helps create safe, equitable and inclusive hospitality spaces. The TOTCF Grant will go towards providing bystander intervention and de-escalation training to industry members.

A $2,500 grant was also provided to Jess Morales of Puerto Rico to help her attend Tales and connect with the Philanthropy & Development Committee members for mentorship and workshopping of her project “From Behind the Bar to Owning the Bar: An Empowering Workshop for Female Bartenders.”