Hotels and restaurants across Scotland have joined forces with producers and suppliers to help beat rising costs and offer cut-price deals.

The Help Out Hospitality campaign, which kicks off on 24 October, has been inspired by the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme rolled out by the UK government during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Barry Knight, director of food and drink procurement firm The Full Range, said: “By leveraging our unique position in the marketplace, we have been able to negotiate a support package across a wide range of suppliers and manufacturers”

He added that this will ‘allow our partner restaurants to run promotions throughout the month of November, in turn, encouraging diners to eat out and sustain footfall at a particularly vulnerable time for hospitality.

“By involving suppliers in the process, we can drive meaningful change – generating discounts at the beginning of the process while removing commission on the other end – a real win-win for the industry, at the same time satisfying consumer demand for great value deals.” 

The new scheme follows months of turbulence for businesses, which have been hard hit by spiralling costs, and it has been designed to be available to any restaurant, supplier, producer, or manufacturer.

Many of Scotland’s best-known producers and suppliers including Mark Murphy, Grahams Family Dairy, Campbell Prime Meats, Gilmours and George Campbell have already confirmed their involvement, alongside hospitality venues located throughout the UK.

Restaurants and hotels which have confirmed their involvement include Metropolitan Bar (Glasgow), Ingliston Resort (Bishopton), McKays Hotel (Pitlochry), Links House (Dornoch) and Kinloch Hotel (Isle of Arran).

The original ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme was used by UK diners over 100 million times generating over £522 million in support for outlets UK-wide at a time of reduced consumer confidence helping to kick-start the hospitality industry post-lockdown.

It is hoped that this iteration of the scheme will help in bolstering business from rising costs as well as maintain footfall during a typically quiet period for the industry.