Jackmont Hospitality’s T.G.I. Friday’s Restaurants Crown the ‘World Bartending Champion’ and Raise Money for Local Atlanta Youth

Jackmont Hospitality, a full-service foodservice company headquartered in Atlanta, recently hosted a series of exciting bartending competitions at their T.G.I. Friday’s locations in search of the World Bartending Champion. For the “T.G.I. Friday’s World Bartending Championship,” the Jackmont T.G.I. Friday’s locations held a series of tests to validate their bartenders, at the store, NE regional (T.G.I. Friday’s Greenbelt, MD) and SE regional (T.G.I. Friday’s Camp Creek, Atlanta, GA) level. Winners emerging from the series will now participate in the Franchise Divisional Competition on Tuesday, December 4^th at the T.G.I. Friday’s in Greenbelt, MD.

In addition to celebrating the top bartenders in the industry, the purpose of the World Bartending Championship is to bring attention to a worthy organization that has strong and deep roots in the community while raising funds to support their continued efforts. For the 2012 event, T.G.I. Friday’s selected the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation (MJYF) (www.mjyf.org) as its franchise charity of choice. Proceeds from the championship events will benefit the mission and work of MJYF.

Founded in 1992 by the late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation has helped train hundreds of young people to become leaders for tomorrow. MJYF has positively impacted the lives of youth through its signature program, the MJYF Leadership Academy. Participating high school students learn skills and principles of leadership, critical thinking, entrepreneurship, community service, and how to prepare for their continued education and careers.

“The vision of the World Bartending Championship event is to show the world that our T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants have the best bars, with the best-in-class bartenders, and the best drinks in the industry,” said Director of Operations David Sylvester of Jackmont Hospitality. “Our bartenders are an integral part of our business as they instigate the energy within our bars and for our guests. With the help of our sponsor, Heineken USA, we were able to exceed our financial goal and will make a $25,000 contribution to the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation. This was a great team building experience, allowing Friday's to continue to have the best bartenders in the industry and rally around  a great cause, all while having a lot of fun.”

For more information on the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation, visit www.mjyf.org or call 404.681-3211.