The Burnt Chef Project was launched in 2019 by Kris Hall after years of watching his friends suffer from the ill-effects of working within the hospitality industry.

Tracey Hughes, managing director of Henley Bridge, said: “The hospitality industry is unfortunately renowned for poor levels of mental health amongst its professionals. Long and anti-social working hours, pressure to perform and tough environmental conditions, coupled with a reticence amongst workers to talk about their health concerns with colleagues, have resulted in this worrying epidemic.

“As a business, we wanted to try to help raise awareness, as well as vital funds, to try and banish the stigma and improve the mental health of the industry. We’ve purchased t-shirts and hoodies for all of the Henley Bridge team and intend to wear them with pride at industry events and customer meetings to help further raise the profile of this important, and much-needed, charity.”

A recent survey of 1,273 hospitality professionals found that eight out of ten (84%) of respondents had experienced mental health issues within their career, and as many as 46% would not feel comfortable talking about their health concerns with their colleagues.

In addition, it revealed that one in five workers are planning to leave the profession in the next 12 months and over a third (37%) are ‘on the fence’.

Hall commented: “Hospitality staff should be able to discuss the state of their mental health and gain support from their peers and employers. It's important that although mental health can't be seen it is regularly discussed and policies reviewed.

“We rely on the support of businesses like Henley Bridge, who value the importance of promoting an open mental health culture, and are extremely grateful to them for partnering with us.”