Blog. The Back in Business Tour, Challenge Completed.

This summer, we challenged the nation to travel 50,000 miles across the globe over 11 days as part of our Back in Business Tour. Not only did we complete the challenge, we completely smashed all our goals. Our 1,901 participants travelled more than 65,500 miles and have raised over £165,000 (including Gift Aid, offline donations and sponsorship) to date. Phenomenal!

The Back in Business Tour followed on from the success of last year’s To Hell and Back challenge, where over 1,000 participants raised over £180,000. In the year since, hospitality workers have continued to experienced unimaginable hardship: mental health has been challenged; businesses have closed and the cost-of-living has soared.

Sponsored by Caterer.com, CH&Co, Ignite and supported by Champagne Taittinger, this year we went even bigger and better by challenging our supporters to travel an epic 50,000 miles to plot a virtual course between some of the most famous hospitality venues and experiences on the planet. We raised a glass of champagne in Reims, and devoured juicy Argentinian steaks in Buenos Aires. We downed Singapore Slings at Raffles and sipped on refreshing mint tea at La Mamounia in Marrakech. All the while raising money for the people whose lives have gone backwards during the pandemic. 

The challenge launched on the morning of Friday 10th June and we were glued to our screens as our virtual map lit up, with all participants gathering the miles at a feverish rate. By the morning of Day 4 we’d already hit 16,000 miles and by Day 6 we’d passed the 30,000 mile mark and raised over £65,000! The donations kept pouring in throughout the challenge as everyone aimed to reach their personal targets and beat their team mates. It was great to see such camaraderie, with so many hospitality people working towards one goal.

Thanks to everyone’s amazing efforts we hit our 50,000 mile target exactly two days ahead of schedule, at 2pm on Day 9. We were completely blown away by the heroic efforts of all our participants. By the close of the challenge all targets had been smashed, with over 65,500 miles covered, taking us fully across the globe once and all the way over to the Sydney Opera House for the second time! Heartfelt thanks to Team THE PIGs & Lime Wood, who have clocked up over 10,000 miles between their team of 286 people, raising over £39,000 so far. Congratulations and thank you.

While the challenge was about exercising and having but fun there was a serious message too. We work hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over the heads of hospitality families in crisis. Here’s a note from just two people we’ve been able to help in recent times:

“I'm genuinely blown away by your support, thank you does not seem like enough. This grant helps to clear off my debt and gives me a chance to survive whilst looking for work. Just knowing that these priority bills are being paid and I can fill the cupboards means so much".

“I’m a single parent and haven’t had any income since early March. I’ve had to go to food banks to feed my little girl. Thank you from both of us”.

To show your support and make a donation to the Back in Business Tour, no matter how large or small, please click here. But be quick! Fundraising closes at 2pm on Monday 27th June. #thankyou