Tuesday 23rd July sees the start of Team Margot Pinkspiration Week, the charity awareness week set up by industry entrepreneur Yaser Martini. Pinkspiration Week, which runs until 30th July, has support from pub, bar and casual dining operators who between them have more than 700 outlets.
Unlike most charity initiatives, Team Margot Pinkspiration Week is aiming not to raise money, but to encourage people to register as stem cell and bone marrow donors. Pinkspiration Week links to the Team Margot Atlantic Row in December this year, when a team of three dads will be taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. They are hoping to encourage new registrations from 1.5 million people – the number of strokes it will take them to complete the 3,000-mile journey, hence their slogan #WeRowYouRegister
Martini and the Team Margot Atlantic Rowers will be touring the pink rowing boat around the country during Pinkspiration Week, stopping at a number of pubs and setting up a swab registration desk for customers interested in signing up to save a life. The tour culminates at Belushi’s in Greenwich on Tuesday 30th July, which is also ‘Live Your Life’, the day marked every year across all Beds and Bars venues in memory of Franca Knowles
Operators who are supporting Pinkspiration Week are: Beds and Bars, All Our Bars, Arc Inspirations, Casual Dining Group, Cirrus Inns, Fuller’s, Glendola Leisure, New World Trading Company and Yummy Pubs. UKHospitality and the BII have encouraged their members to back the campaign and Sky Business has also communicated it out to licensees.
Participating venues are marking Pinkspiration Week with a range of activities. Many are offering pink food and drinks – including Orchard Pig Pink cider, which is sponsoring the Team Margot boat. Team members will be wearing pink T-shirts, handing out Team Margot wristbands, and communicating the message about stem cell registration to customers.
Martini says: “We are basically asking people to swab their cheeks and join the register. It’s quick and easy to do and it’s incredible to think that a stranger standing next to you at the bar could be your ‘perfect match’ and lifesaver, if you needed a stem cell transplant. But you wouldn’t know that, unless they were on the register.
“We are delighted with operators’ enthusiasm for Pinkspiration Week and looking forward to seeing it activated in pubs, bars and restaurants across the country. With good weather predicted for the week, venues should be busy, meaning more customers will be exposed to the campaign message, so we’re confident that Pinkspiration Week won’t just be a fun, pink-themed event, but will also deliver an uplift in people registering as stem cell donors.”
He added: “We’re encouraging operators to spread the word about stem cell registration not just to customers, but across their networks – to all their teams in outlets and at head office and up the supply chain. Community is what our industry excels at. The more people who go on the register, the better the chance that those who need treatment will find a match.
“If we can reach our target of adding 1.5 million people to the register, then up to 15,000 lives could potentially be saved.”
Team Margot was set up in 2015 by Martini in memory of his daughter Margot and to honour her legacy after she lost her battle with blood cancer, aged two. Margot was unable to find her ‘perfect match’. Anyone between 17-55 years old who is in general good health can join the register via a simple swab test.
