New Hospo campaign called WFHospo, encourages people to utilise hospitality venues this November instead of working from home
This November sees a new campaign, WFHospo, organised by SWURF, which aims to encourage people who work from home to swap home for hospo – their local hospitality venue.
The purpose of the campaign is to help revitalise local businesses by driving new footfall to venues and help revenues, while providing remote workers, from freelancers to entrepreneurs, with a welcoming, social environment and the opportunity to save on the rising household bills. A win-win for everyone.
The new initiative will not only benefit hospitality venues but the mental health of workers, who generally in the winter months find working from home hard going, as the days become shorter and nights darker.
The campaign has been initiated by Nikki Gibson, founder of SWURF (the app which launched two years ago to connect remote workers with hospitality spaces and hosts) and Anna Lagerqvist Christopherson, hospitality consultant, and former owner of Boda Bars.
Says Nikki Gibson, “The pandemic impacted our lives in so many ways but nothing more so than the landscape of work. ‘Working From Home’ has fast become the ‘norm’ for millions of workers and provides wonderful freedom and flexibility, but it can also be very lonely and isolating.
“We have heavily populated cities and neighbourhoods with empty hospitality spaces, and they deserve to be enjoyed. That’s why we founded SWURF a few years ago to connect people to those places through its simple aggregation platform.”
She continues, “As we approach the winter months there is a huge opportunity to realise the benefits for both venues and remote workers and that’s why we have come up with the idea of WFHospo. It is not just a campaign; it is a movement, and we want to encourage hospitality venues to get involved, as well as remote workers.”
Anna Lagerqvist Christopherson explains, “WFHospo month in November is exactly what both Hospitality and Remote workers need. SWURF is encouraging people to turn their heating off and come to sit in their local venue. SWURF is the first business that I have found that really helps this big group of freelancers, remote workers and entrepreneurs sitting at home to find a nice place to work outside of home. It is such a great tool to find welcoming places.
“In 20 years in hospitality with the Boda Bars and now with The Green Room I have never seen a tougher climate for hospitality businesses. The triple effect of Brexit, Covid and Cost of Living increase is affecting us all.
“But our industry is a fighting breed that don’t like to give up, so therefore we are doing something about it, and that is why we are hoping lots of people will join WFHospo.Getting involved is free – both for hospitality venues and remote workers. Check out Swurf.co to find out more.
Nikki comments, “This is about supporting hospitality and workers who perhaps need a more convivial place to work during November. Obviously, we hope that they will enjoy the experience so much that they will in future see the benefits of SWURF.”
Nicola Walker talks to SWURF here
