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M Restaurant pop-up to tackle sex trafficking and modern day slavery

Published:  28 January, 2019

A pop-up restaurant will open for a fortnight to raise funds to fight human trafficking and exploitation.

Between 31 January and 28 February, M Restaurant will launch a “dining experience with a difference” to generate funds and awareness for ‘Not For Sale’, a global organisation that works to end human trafficking and exploitation through funding self-sustaining social projects across six continents.

The two-week temporary restaurant, inside M Victoria Street in London, expects to welcome over 600 diners. M will donate 100% of the profits from the special menu to Not For Sale, which was founded by David Batstone.

The five course menu, designed by M Group Executive Chef Michael Reid, is inspired by countries where ‘Not For Sale projects’ have had the biggest impact to date. A selection of Dutch-inspired snacks will be followed by Peruvian tuna tacos, then XO beef tartare from Vietnam, then lamb with artichokes and wheatgrass, using the USA as the point of reference. The final course is Ugandan coconut ice cream with cucumber, lemon, olive oil and dill. The dinner includes a glass of Champagne and costs £65.

“Modern-day slavery and sex trafficking is a silent cancer in our society, as much a London and UK issue as it is a global shame,” said Martin Williams, owner of M Restaurants. “Professor David Batstone is leading the fight against human trafficking by building innovative businesses that feed profits into creating self-sustaining social enterprises around the world.

“It excites me hugely to support Not For Sale by our second year of the ‘M is not for sale’ series of dinners, which will bring awareness to and generate profits to support the cause. I’m delighted that we are kicking off the ‘M is not for sale’ pop up nights with a room of like-minded cross sector CEOs joining us for dinner.”

Over 100 of the UK’s leading CEOs will join the event, including Lion Capitals’ Lyndon Lea, who will be honoured with an ‘Innovate for Good’ award in recognition of his “inspiring awareness and fund raising for the ‘Not for Sale movement”.

Professor David Batstone said Not For Sale works with a “select tribe of brands that demonstrate a deep commitment in support of our cause to arrest trafficking. We embrace innovation and entrepreneurship as our sharpest tools in that fight, and we look for brand partners who so align.”

Adrian Valeriano, VP, EMEA, OpenTable, said “We are incredibly proud to be the exclusive reservation partner for the second M is Not For Sale event and to support such an important cause. We passionately believe great dining experiences bring people together and deliver unifying moments, and to be able to offer an experience like this to our diners in support of a global issue that effects our industry remains incredibly important to us.”

M Victoria Street is made up of a 120-cover two-tiered grill room, 50-cover raw bar, public and private members' bars, a wine tasting room and private dining and event spaces. It’s accessed via M Wine Store, a retail boutique that stocks “unusual and premium” wines.