Put a Jab on the Menu: Australia’s Hospitality Industry Unites for a Hard-Hitting Campaign To Save Restaurants, Bars and Cafes

Some of Australia’s very best chefs have teamed up with ad man David Nobay to create “Put a Jab on the Menu”.

The hard-hitting new print, online and radio campaign will launch this Friday on the back of a 60-second film. It’s all designed to encourage diners to get vaccinated to help save a local food-and-beverage industry laid low by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Chefs from around the country featured in the campaign include Matt Moran, Danielle Alvarez, Neil Perry, Shannon Martinez, Maurice Terzini, Anna Ugarte-Carral, Frank Camorra, Victor Liong, Adam D’Sylva, Ross Lusted, Jacqui Challinor, Alex Munoz Labart, Massimo Mele, Nick Holloway and Morgan McGlone.

Guillaume Brahimi, the campaign’s industry ambassador and owner of Bistro Guillaume, says vaccination is the only way to ensure the Australian restaurant industry’s long-term future in the face of a worsening Covid-19 pandemic, now supercharged by the highly infectious Delta strain. It’s a sentiment reflected overseas, where many countries are introducing mandatory vaccine green passes for restaurants, bars and cafes. Both Sydney and Melbourne are currently under hard lockdowns, with seemingly no end in sight for restrictions in the NSW capital.

“Whether it’s a small suburban Thai restaurant, a country pub, a cafe, a 300-seat fine diner, every person who works in hospitality does it because they want to bring happiness to people by service or food,” Brahimi said in a statement. “But regardless of our shared passion, there’s one thing that we can’t overcome, and that’s empty tables.

“I’ve been speaking to so many of my friends in hospitality and this time around could be what breaks them. Takeaway doesn’t make money for restaurants not set up for that; they are doing it mainly to keep their teams busy, and for mental health.

“Vaccination is the only way to save our industry and open it up again, without restrictions. If we don’t get it done, we’re going to lose some amazing businesses.”

The campaign was the brainchild of Nobay, a creative director, artist and writer with over 30 years’ experience in marketing. It was pulled together in just three weeks, and everyone who participated donated their time and skills free of charge.

Other creatives involved in the campaign include director Susan Stitt ACS, who owned acclaimed Sydney restaurant Pond (which helped launched the careers of Brahimi and Peter Gilmore) before becoming an award-winning cinematographer, and Will Alexander, whose production company Heckler helped produce the entire campaign. Jeanine Bribosia, founder and director of PR company The Cru, has overseen publicity and the media rollout.

Nobay had the idea for the campaign after witnessing the devastating effects of lockdowns on friends and relatives who worked in the hospitality industry.

While some experts suggest that restrictions such as quarantining, social distancing and mask wearing may be needed for some time to curb the worst effects of the pandemic, vaccination is a crucial part of any reopening strategy, and is the best way to protect yourself and your community from the virus.

For more information on Covid-19 vaccines, including safety and eligibility, see the Australian Government Department of Health website.