Governance & CSR

These days, companies come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to raise funds for charity, most of which involve all kinds of unpleasant feats of endurance. So we were delighted to hear about a new initiative that helps businesses to make some money for a good cause – by encouraging their staff to sit around a kitchen eating, drinking and generally making merry...

Venturi’s Table, an Italian cooking school that specifically targets corporates, is launching a special pink menu in October, in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month. The idea is that companies bring along their staff as usual for a spot of cooking and team-building – bonding over a blazing stove and a nice soufflé – but all the food and drink has a pink theme: prawn risotto, beetroot tagliatelle, strawberry jelly, pink prosecco and so on. And to make up for the fact that they’re dressing you in an embroidered pink ribbon apron, Venturi’s Table will donate 10% of your fee to Breast Cancer Campaign.

As well as making your team members feel good about themselves, this might also help them feel better about each other. According to Venturi’s, the point of their four-hour lesson is not to teach you to cook – it’s to use the cooking process to help your staff get to know each other better, and cheer them up after all those endless conversations about the credit crunch. ‘For centuries, families have used the kitchen and the dining table as a way to bring people together and help people feel part of something special. Venturi’s Table applies these principles to working life,’ the school says.

Since plying people with food and drink is generally a good way to get them onside, we reckon there might be something in that. And either way, by trying the ‘pink menu’, you’ll at least be able to convince yourself that all this fine dining is for a good cause...

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Keeping corporates in the pink