NRA News

Now is the time to plan for your business future. A fail-safe way to ensure maximum ROI is to attend the most comprehensive restaurant and hospitality industry trade show in the country – the NRA Show, which is set for May 21 through 24 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Attendee registration for the 2011 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show has launched, and a $30 “early-bird” special is available online until Dec.1. For managers and operators of beverage alcohol programs, early registration pricing also is available for the International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event. IWSB is the only beverage alcohol event focused exclusively on growing restaurant and hospitality bar programs. It takes place in conjunction with the NRA Show May 22 and 23.

Members of the National Restaurant Association receive free access to the NRA Show when registering at any time. We also offer an NRA member-only registration rate of $55 for IWSB.

Restaurants hunting for local produce, meat and dairy products are turning to organizations formed to put them in touch with area farmers. The buy-local groups can be godsends for operators who want to feature more seasonal foods but struggle to find nearby sources.

For example, Mountainside, N.J.-based Charlie Brown’s Steakhouse worked through Jersey Fresh, a marketing and inspection program run by the state agriculture department. The program helped the company line up local produce suppliers for its 35 restaurants. The program was developed in 1983 to help New Jersey farmers inform consumers about available fresh produce. The program expanded over the years and now connects wholesale produce buyers, such as restaurants, with growers in their counties.

Like New Jersey, many state agriculture departments have programs to promote buying from local farmers. A little detective work can reveal buyer/seller networks closer to home.

The National Restaurant Association continues to fight for the restaurant industry as federal agencies issue more rules to implement the new health care law.

Soft sales and traffic levels and a deteriorating outlook among restaurant operators continue to affect restaurant performance. The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) remained essentially flat in July, and stood below 100 for the third consecutive month.

“While there were signs in recent months that the short-term outlook may be improving, the latest figures indicate that the restaurant industry’s recovery has yet to fully gain traction,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the National Restaurant Association. 

The RPI stood at 99.4 in July, down 0.1 percent from June and its fourth consecutive decline. However, the RPI is at a significantly higher level now than it was a year ago.

Watch this month's restaurant industry update video with the National Restaurant Association's Hudson Riehle, talking about the July Restaurant Performance Index, wholesale food prices and international tourism.

You can also watch previous restaurant industry update videos in our research section.

Teaching is as close to immortality as anyone will ever get, according to Ferdinand Metz. And all restaurateurs and chefs are teachers because that's what they do every day, Metz said in May at the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s Salute to Excellence gala.

Many of those restaurateurs and chefs don’t get the recognition they deserve. But the NRAEF honors outstanding leaders in the hospitality, restaurant and foodservice industry each year through several awards.

NRAEF is accepting nominations for next year’s honors: the Thad and Alice Eure Ambassador of Hospitality Award, College of Diplomats and the Michael E. Hurst Lifetime Achievement in Education Award. 

These awards recognize the honorees’ extraordinary achievements and contributions to the industry through education, philanthropy and community service.

Metz, managing partner, the Master Chefs' Institute and former president, Culinary Institute of America, was among the restaurateurs and culinary educators honored this year. He received the Michael E. Hurst award.

Nominate a great industry leader here. Nominations are due Sept. 10.

Salute to Excellence is set for May 21, 2011, in Chicago.

Jay Nix has climbed the ladder enough that he rarely works Sundays at his restaurant, Parkway Bakery & Tavern.

But he’s glad he came into the Mid City New Orleans restaurant yesterday. President Obama, the First Lady and their daughters showed up for lunch. Obama was due to speak later that day at Xavier University of New Orleans to mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

“He made us feel very special,” said Nix, a former contractor who entered the restaurant business seven years ago.

“It’s not good luck,” says Nix, a Louisiana Restaurant Association member who attributes his success to good food, friendly employees, great location, great atmosphere and “plenty, plenty blessings.” The most recent blessing was the First Family’s visit, he says.

Tommy Cvitanovich was finally getting his business back on track nearly five years after flood water ravaged New Orleans. Then a BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and wreaking havoc on those whose livelihoods depend on Gulf Coast seafood.

“We were just getting back to pre-Katrina stages,” says Cvitanovich, incoming Louisiana Restaurant Association chairman. “Now we have a national perception that our oysters aren’t safe. It’s going to take years to recover.”

Cvitanovich is among the restaurateurs, hospitality workers and others in the tourism industry filing claims seeking compensation for lost business after the April 22 explosion. BP agreed to pledge $20 billion to reimburse business owners, their employees and individuals affected by the oil spill.

The approaching mid-term congressional elections will have a significant impact on job growth and other issues that affect the restaurant industry.

This fall, 37 Senate, 435 House and 36 gubernatorial races are on the ballot. Changes in the make-up of the Senate and House of Representatives will affect immigration reform, small businesses’ access to credit, union card check and other issues. As candidates debate those issues, the restaurant industry can’t afford to miss out on such an important election.

The best way of communicating a restaurant’s green efforts might be the Joe Friday approach: Just the facts, please.

So say even devoutly green operators, who say their enthusiasm in marketing sustainability programs doesn’t always play well to the public. Research shows consumers want to know about establishments’ initiatives to protect the environment. But they can be sensitive to overstatement or imprecision. 

Here are some experts’ tips for marketing restaurants’ environmental initiatives:

• Make your program part of the message, not the whole message. Instead of saying your operation is green, market the steps your restaurant is taking to be more responsible, advises Chris Moyer, project manager, the National Restaurant Association’s Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability initiative. “Being green is a process,” Moyer says.

• State your efforts simply and factually.  “Making a simple statement on your menu is fine,” says Robby Kukler, a partner in Atlanta’s five-restaurant Fifth Group, which started recycling about 17 years ago. “Be honest. You have to be careful not to overreach.” The idea is to inform, not to crow, he says.

• Train staff to ensure you and your front-line employees deliver the same message.  If you’re out there with a message, make sure you follow up with your staff, Moyer says. “Make sure they reinforce what you’re saying.” Kukler agrees: “You’re not going to be successful without them.”

• Err on the side of prudence. Although Fifth Group has eliminated virtually all of four restaurants’ landfill contributions through recycling and composting, the company always describes the operations as 95 percent waste-free. “There’s still a chance you’ll have to throw something away, so we don’t say 100 percent,” says Kukler. “We don’t want to be challenged.”