Local hospitality group commits one million face masks to healthcare workers

Through shifting from operating popular restaurants to launching “safety boxes” filled with essential items, a local hospitality group is committing one million masks to Sinai Health.

Honeycomb, the group behind notable Toronto joints including Petty Cash, Dasha, Baro, and others, has pivoted its business model in response to the ongoing pandemic.

The company’s goal is to provide essential items to everyone quickly and easily, while donating a massive number of medical-grade masks to frontline healthcare workers.

Project Safety Box is launching in alignment with Toronto’s recently-implemented bylaw that requires face masks to be worn in public spaces and on transit. As such, each box available through the group will contain face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, surface sanitizer, and immune boosters.

Now available online, the boxes are available for contactless delivery anywhere in Canada. For each one sold, five masks will be donated to Sinai Health.

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“When faced with the unsettling knowledge that essential items were increasingly hard to find, with demand for some products surging up to 500%, we began brainstorming how to solve this problem right away,” said Matty Tsoumaris, partner at Honeycomb Hospitality and founder of Project Safety Box.

“We had a diverse group of entrepreneurs around the table who shared a history of collaborating together and had complementary skill sets including e-commerce, technology, logistics, and marketing. That evening, the concept for Project Safety Box was born.”

Each safety box is customizable, and follows strict regulatory guidelines, sourcing only the best-quality products to ensure high-level of protection.

“As we prepare for reopening and restrictions are eased, we must remember that the fight to combat COVID-19 is far from over and individuals must ensure they have adequate supplies to return to their normal lives,” Tom Yawney, another founder of the project, said.

According to Honeycomb, The Allam Advisory Group reports that consumer demand for medical and non-medical safety masks will reach nearly 3.3 billion units over the next 12 months. As restrictions begin to ease, a considerable stock of essential items will be needed as people start returning to their social interactions and some returning to work.

“We are proud and excited to see our world starting to open up again, but we know the fight against COVID-19 is not over and these items must be more readily available and affordable so we can get back to our normal lives in the safest way possible,” said Tsoumaris.