Las Vegas’ Lee Business School has teamed up with the family it’s named after to offer $1 million in prizes for innovations that promise to help the hospitality industry bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis.
The money will be provided as prizes in a competition administered by the school, an arm of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). The contest is intended to foster innovative ideas and help the entrepreneurs who hatched them make their brainstorms a reality.
“These technologies and solutions must ultimately make the industry safer for both guests and employees of the hospitality or travel sectors,” according to the announcement of the contest.
The winning ideas will be selected by a committee that includes Wolfgang Puck, the celebrity chef and restaurateur, and Bill Foley, the former owner of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s and an investor through his current holdings in a number of restaurant chains.
Collaborating with UNLV in the contest is the Ted and Doris Lee Family Foundation. The Lee family manages dozens of hospitality businesses in the Las Vegas area, including restaurants. Patriarchs Ted and Dorris were the former owners of Eureka Casinos.
“If Las Vegas is the world leader in hospitality and entertainment, then it must lead now in identifying the best practices and products to safely chart the way forward for guests and employees in the travel and hospitality industries,” Greg Lee, Ted and Doris’ son and a trustee of the foundation, said in a statement. “When the time is right, we must give the customer confidence that it is safe and desirable to travel again, dine again, stay again, and play again.”
More information is available here.
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