Boozy Cow owner Garreth Wood backs youth philanthropy project

A RESTAURANT owner is plunging his profits into shaping the philanthropists of the future.

Garreth Wood in his Boozy Cow restaurant in Edinburgh. Picture: contributed

Garreth Wood, whose Speratus Group runs the Boozy Cow, supports the Youth Philanthropy Initiative Scotland, which allows school children to make a charitable donation.

Mr Wood yesterday made donations worth a total of £263,000 to five charities – including £50,000 to YPI Edinburgh.

The programme sees pupils from S2-S6 prepare a presentation explaining why their chosen cause should receive a £3000 grant.

After competing against each other, the winning school is given the money to present to the charity of its choice. That means Mr Wood’s cash will go directly to small, local grassroots charities based in the Capital.

Jonathan Christie, YPI Scotland national manager, said: “We are delighted with this announcement and our ongoing partnership with the Speratus Group through YPI across Edinburgh city.

“YPI gives secondary school students a hands-on experience of philanthropy and allows each school to take responsibility for directing £3000 to a local charity that they feel needs it most.”

ARCHIE Foundation, VSA, CHAS and the STV Children’s Appeal have also benefited from Mr Wood’s donation, which comes after the Speratus Group launched its #fromMoo2U initiative last June.

That committed the firm to donating annual profits from its restaurants to charities – a total expected to hit the £1 million mark by 2018. The Boozy Cow’s branch in Frederick Street only opened last year.

Mr Wood said: “Our concept is very simple. Every single penny of profit from each Boozy Cow restaurant will go to registered charities.

“At Speratus, we are extremely proud of the Boozy Cow concept and clearly our customers agree. Their loyalty has enabled us to announce a healthy profit from two restaurants, one of which has only been operating for seven months.

“Our incredible staff and the wider team have been blown away by our customer engagement and I want to thank every one of them for their support.

“We encourage our loyal customers to continue to support, eat and drink at all our Boozy Cow restaurants, so we can continue to open new venues across the country.

“Life is a careful balance between what you do for yourself, and what you do for others, and to finally share this profit with our partner charities has been something of a dream for the group and for me personally.”

After getting a £70,000 donation, Maria McGill, chief executive at Edinburgh-based CHAS, said: “We are absolutely thrilled that our partnership with the Boozy Cow has raised such an incredible amount for CHAS. This generous gift will be used to help pay for important work at Robin House, our hospice in Balloch for babies, children and young people.

“This work will include the creation of a new play space and teenage den and will mean that we can continue to offer the same level of care and support for the hundreds of children and their families who we look after every year at Robin House.”

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