StreetSmart is back!
Do you run a restaurant? What if we said that you could help some of the most vulnerable people in Southend this Christmas simply by letting your customers have a good meal with friends during the festive period?
We are looking for kind-hearted restaurants that want to do more than just serve good food this Christmas time. You can help make a positive change in our community by encouraging your diners to join in with the fight to End Rough Sleeping, at no cost to you. After all, no one should be sleeping on the streets in 2017.
HARP is Southend’s homeless charity helping over 1,000 people in crisis each year. And thanks to StreetSmart we have a fantastic, fuss-free way for restaurants and their diners to get involved with our mission to End Rough Sleeping in Southend. This year marks the 20th Anniversary of StreetSmart – a national charity that fundraises for homeless people through the support of restaurants across the UK - and we would like to invite the restaurants in the area to help us End Rough Sleeping in Southend simply by signing up to this fantastic free initiative.
Stephen Fry, an advocate of StreetSmart, said their mission is “to connect the lucky citizen who can dine out with the unlucky ones for whom dining out means queuing up in front of food banks.”
StreetSmart is so simple anyone can get involved. Simply put, StreetSmart work with restaurants to add a voluntary £1 to the bill (of which 100% will come directly to HARP to support local homeless people). This voluntary addition to the bill can of course be removed at the diner’s request, however StreetSmart have found that “customers rarely object, in fact they’re delighted to have an opportunity to help homeless people over Christmas. Our experience has shown that less than 1% of customers decline to participate; instead, they often request that more than £1 be added to the bill!”
Many restaurants worry about the impact on staff tips, but again StreetSmart can assure you: “Most restaurants find that participating in StreetSmart has no effect on the level of tipping. In fact, customers are happy to contribute and don’t make any adjustment to the level of tip they would normally leave for a meal.”
We are keen to meet with restaurant owners and managers to explain more about the initiative. We guarantee that it is very simplistic and well supported amongst diners.
For more information please feel free to have a look at the StreetSmart website or contact our fundraising team on 01702 415 837 and ask to speak to Lisa.
