After an event like Tūn Brewing’s collaboration with The Burnt Chef Project, it is tempting to say, “That was lovely, important stuff,” and then go back to normal.
But normal is exactly what we are trying to change.
Not everything. We can keep the good bits of hospitality: the humour, the pride, the craft, the beautiful chaos, the perfectly timed snack, the post-shift storytelling, the “we survived Saturday night” feeling. What needs changing is the idea that struggling is just part of the job. Or that people should wait until they are at breaking point before asking for help.
The good news is that support already exists. The even better news is that it does not all require a grand gesture. You do not need to become a mental health expert overnight. You do not need to have perfect words. You do not need to fix your colleague’s entire life between table 12 ordering desserts and someone asking whether the IPA is “quite hoppy”.
You can start with awareness, conversation and signposting.
The Burnt Chef Project provides free, confidential, 24/7 support for hospitality workers. In the UK, people can text BURNTCHEF to 85258 or call 0800 243 458. The organisation also has global support options, including freephone support numbers in countries such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, the UAE, and the United States. That is worth repeating in every staff room, on every rota board, in every manager handbook, and yes, on the back of a beer mat if we can get away with it: help is available, free, confidential and around the clock.
The Burnt Chef Project also makes a key point on its support page: you do not have to wait until you reach boiling point – pun intended. Reaching out early can make all the difference, and a conversation today can help stop things building up. Their support covers challenges including in-the-moment crisis, ongoing stress, relationship worries, legal advice and financial advice. That “early” bit is important. In hospitality, people often pride themselves on pushing through. But pushing through is not always resilience. Sometimes it is a warning light being covered with tape.
There are also practical resources available for individuals and workplaces. The Burnt Chef Project’s free downloads page includes a mental health awareness poster, a monthly activity planner, a wellbeing workbook, PTSD awareness materials, LGBTQIA+ support posters, front-of-house and back-of-house support posters, delivery driver and housekeeping support posters, workplace posters, a going home checklist, an employee check-in guide, a wellness action plan, self-care posters, suicide prevention materials and seasonal support packs.
This is the kind of stuff that sounds small until you need it. A poster might be the first time someone sees a support number. A checklist might help someone separate work stress from home time. A check-in guide might give a manager the confidence to ask a better question. A wellness action plan might turn a vague “we should look after people” into an actual plan.
So, what can people do?
If you work in hospitality, start by saving the support number. Not because you definitely need it today, but because you or someone you know might need it tomorrow. Text BURNTCHEF to 85258 in the UK, or visit The Burnt Chef Project’s support page for phone and global options. You can also download resources that suit your role or workplace, whether that is a wellbeing workbook for yourself, a workplace poster for the staff area, or a check-in guide to help conversations feel a little less awkward.
If you manage a team, make mental health visible before there is a crisis. Put the support details where people can see them. Mention them in onboarding. Include mental health check-ins in one-to-ones. Keep an eye on rota patterns, late finishes, missed breaks and signs of burnout. Make sure ‘open door policy’ does not accidentally mean ‘the door is technically open but everyone is too scared to walk through it’.
If you are a customer, be kind. Revolutionary stuff, we know. But genuinely: hospitality workers absorb more of the public’s moods than most people realise. Patience, respect and a smile are not a full mental health strategy, but they do help create a less hostile environment. Also, if the kitchen is closed, the kitchen is closed. Please do not make someone explain the concept of time while they are holding a mop.
If you run a pub, brewery, restaurant, café or venue, think about your space as part of the solution. Could you host a mental health conversation night? Could you support fundraising for The Burnt Chef Project? Could you display free resources? Could you invite someone in to speak to your team? Could you make your pub a place where hospitality workers feel welcome even when they are not ‘on’?
This is where Tūn Brewing’s next idea could become something really meaningful: monthly pub sessions for hospitality workers.
The concept is simple. Once a month, Tūn hosts an informal session in a pub for people working across hospitality. It is not therapy, and it should never pretend to be. It is a community space. A regular place to gather, learn, decompress and talk. Each session could have a loose topic, such as burnout, sleep, anxiety, financial pressure, difficult shifts, grief, addiction, leadership, or how to support a mate who is struggling. There could be a short talk from someone with lived experience or professional knowledge, followed by relaxed conversation and clear signposting to Burnt Chef Project resources.
The sessions could also rotate between local pubs, making the idea bigger than one venue. That matters. If the theme is reclaiming pubs as social hubs, then the pub itself should be part of the message. It should feel familiar, not formal. Support should not always require stepping into an unfamiliar building with a clipboard and a water cooler. Sometimes it can begin where people already feel they belong.
A monthly format also helps avoid the ‘one and done’ problem. Mental health awareness is not a single event; it is a habit. By showing up regularly, Tūn could help create a rhythm: a known night, a known place, a known invitation. The first month someone may just listen. The second month they may bring a colleague. The third month they may ask a question. The fourth month they may finally say, “Actually, I’m not doing great.”
That is how culture changes. Not all at once. Not with a grand speech and a branded tote bag. Culture changes when people see, again and again, that it is safe to talk.
The Burnt Chef Project’s wider work shows how much support can grow when an industry takes its own wellbeing seriously. They provide free mental health support, training, education, free resources, an e-learning academy, podcasts and ambassador programmes, with impact reaching thousands of people and many countries. Tūn Brewing can help bring that message into local pub spaces in a way that feels grounded, human and accessible.
Because the point is not to make pubs solemn. It is to make them more fully social. A proper social hub is not only a place for celebration; it is a place for connection. It is where people can laugh, vent, ask for help, be noticed, and feel part of something.
The Strange Brew event was a reminder that mental health conversations do not need to be hidden away. They can happen in the open, with warmth, humour and care. They can happen in the places where hospitality workers already gather.
So here is the invitation: pull up a chair, check in with your people, save the support details, use the resources, and let’s make the pub a place where “How are you?” becomes a question worth answering.
And if the answer is “not great, actually” – that is where the conversation starts.
