July 2011 Archives

Stronger sales, traffic and optimism boosted the National Restaurant Association’s June Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) by nearly a full percentage point. June represents the sixth time in the last seven months that the RPI stood above 100, which signifies expansion in key industry indicators.   

The RPI – a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry – stood at 100.6 in June, up 0.8 percent from May’s level of 99.9. 

“The RPI’s solid improvement in June was due in large part to stronger same-store sales and customer traffic performances, which bounced back from their May declines,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the Association.

Watch our latest industry update video, where the National Restaurant Association's SVP of the Research & Knowledge Group Hudson Riehle summarizes the June Restaurant Performance Index.

For previous industry update videos, visit our Research & Insights section.

Restaurants that can’t cultivate gardens of their own are finding they can source locally grown produce by cooperating with neighbors.

Community gardens provide ways for chefs to grow, barter for or buy beans, eggplants, tomatoes, lettuce and other just-picked ingredients. The communal growing spaces typically consist of 100- or 120-square foot plots, each tended by local residents.

In some cases, as with the Kapow! Asian cafe that is to open later this year in Boca Raton, Fla., restaurants that lack on-premise garden space are eying those plots to as places to grow what they can.

The National Restaurant Association celebrated a milestone this month by providing its one millionth training class and exam administration. The Association has contributed to the success of the nation’s nearly one million restaurants and 13 million employees through its ServSafe Food Safety, ServSafe Alcohol, ProStart curriculum, ManageFirst and other programs for the last 25 years.

“Maintaining a properly trained staff is key to running a successful restaurant business, and the National Restaurant Association’s range of programs are the gold-standard for food safety, responsible alcohol service and hospitality management,” said Dawn Sweeney, President and CEO of the National Restaurant Association.

“Our ServSafe Food Safety program is the nation’s most widely accepted food safety training and certification program, with 4.6 million ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certifications awarded to date. As we celebrate this milestone of one million training classes, we look forward to a million more,” she said.

The National Restaurant Association has decided to move up its trade show to avoid overlap with the Global G8 and NATO Summit. Those events are set for May 15 through 22, 2012.

The 2012 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show was originally scheduled for May 19-22 but will now be in Chicago May 5-8, 2012. The concurrent International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event will move to May 6 and 7.

“The NRA’s primary goal is provide our exhibitors and attendees an environment that is conducive to business,” said NRA President and CEO Dawn Sweeney.

As a high school student, Eric Purple explored the culinary and management aspects of the food industry. Now, at 19, he’s taking on the supplier side.

Purple, a student at Secchia Institute for Culinary Education in Grand Rapids, Mich., is spending the summer building sales for Vita Coco, a company that supplies coconut water from Brazil to retailers.

“I’m their mega intern,” says Purple, who’s responsible for setting up accounts in Louisiana, Massachusetts and Alabama. “When Vita Coco kicks off in Michigan, they want me to lead the start-up team.”

The National Restaurant Association and Food News Media – publisher of QSR magazine and Restaurant Management – today released the second installment of the “Big Picture Management” podcast series. This two-part episode highlights front-burner food and healthy living issues and how they impact restaurant operators.

Host Blair Chancey, editorial director of Food News Media, speaks with Joan Rector McGlockton, the National Restaurant Association’s vice president of industry affairs and food policy, about the Association’s nutrition initiatives, including recent developments in menu-labeling legislation, supporting Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, and the new Kids LiveWell program.

Listen to the podcasts through iTunes.

The National Restaurant Association is helping to spread the word about MyPlate, the new-generation food icon designed to help Americans build healthy plates at meal times.

Excellence in food safety is paramount to running a successful business that serves food. Each food handler plays a role in reaching that status, making proper food safety training of crucial importance. Extending that training to employees throughout the establishment helps ensure that each meal is served safely.

The National Restaurant Association’s ServSafe has long been the gold-standard for food protection manager training, as the nation’s most widely accepted such training and certification program. Now, staff and crew can access ServSafe Food Handler training tailored specifically to foodservice food handlers.

The ServSafe Food Handler program’s flexible, budget-friendly options streamline the food safety training process, saving operators both time and money. The course is offered online, in classrooms and as a book to study on your own or with fellow employees. The training provides a career-building professional development opportunity for food handlers.

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation is encouraging restaurant industry professionals to identify and nominate outstanding candidates for its 2012 awards: the College of Diplomats, the Michael E. Hurst Lifetime Achievement in Education Award and the Thad and Alice Eure Ambassador of Hospitality Award.

Submissions can be made online, mailed or faxed to (312) 566-9733. The nomination deadline is Aug. 31.

“We are looking to all leaders in the hospitality business to nominate their shining stars — the valued individuals who go the extra mile both personally and professionally to serve and bring public focus to restaurants and foodservice through their works,” said Lynette McKee, executive director, NRAEF.

Building an eco-friendly restaurant is a lot easier and affordable than it was five years ago, Pizza Fusion co-founder Vaughan Lazar is learning as he midwifes a second green venture.

When he and his partners launched Pizza Fusion, “there weren’t a lot of sustainable restaurants out there,” Lazar recalls.

Half a decade ago, it was more difficult to find the elements, or even the ideas, that would reduce a new restaurant’s environmental impact. The National Restaurant Association member company is now regarded as one of the industry’s greenest chains

Some lawmakers have the right idea about trying to improve the way government regulates small businesses.

Every time a federal agency writes a regulation affecting small businesses, it must comply with a law known as the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The law requires agencies to evaluate what a regulation will cost small businesses and look for less-burdensome alternatives, if possible. 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act has been on the books for a while, and the National Restaurant Association and other employers believe the law needs to be strengthened.

Over the past two weeks, two key House committees -- Judiciary and Small Business -- have signed off on the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, H.R. 527. The NRA strongly supported the bill, writing letters (here and here) to support passage in both committees.

H.R. 527 would add to the Regulatory Flexibility Act by giving the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy more oversight authority as federal agencies write regulations. The bill also would require federal agencies to consider the indirect impact of federal regulations on small businesses, which would lead to a more accurate assessment of a regulation's true cost for business. Finally, H.R. 527 would require a broader analysis of the cumulative impact of all regulations on small businesses, which could set the stage for repealing or modifying existing regulations.

Now the full House of Representatives is gearing up for a vote on H.R. 527. The vote could come as early as next week. The NRA has helped organize more than 70 national organizations in a letter to support the bill. Now state groups are signing on as well, which means we will go to the full House with support from groups representing millions of small businesses.

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to urge your House member to support H.R. 527.

A little more than two months ago, the U.S. Department of Labor put new regulations into effect changing the notice that employers must give to tip-earning employees about the tip credit.

The new rules took effect May 5 and dramatically expand the notice employers must provide to employees about the tip credit, or the portion of tip earnings that under strict conditions federal and state laws allow many employers to apply against minimum-wage obligations. The DOL put the new tip-credit notice rules into effect with only 30 days notice and without giving employers any opportunity to comment on the changes.

The National Restaurant Association last week called for a complete withdrawal of proposed federal principles that would set restrictive new guidelines under which restaurants could market food and beverages to children under 17.

Four federal agencies -- together called the "Interagency Working Group" -- in April proposed a sweeping set of "voluntary principles" to guide restaurants and other companies in marketing food and beverages to children and adolescents ages 2 to 17.

By broadly defining marketing and by setting stringent criteria for the types of foods and beverages that could be marketed to children, the principles could end up eliminating the marketing of healthful options to kids and adolescents at all, the NRA said in comments submitted July 14.

Although the Interagency Working Group's guidelines are voluntary, the NRA said it is concerned that the principles could eventually become mandatory. 

Restaurants are putting nutrition at the center of the plate -- and the National Restaurant Association is working to tell that story to the nation's leaders.

The latest installment in the Association's monthly "America Works Here" campaign focuses on the many ways the nation's nearly 1 million restaurants are innovating on and off the menu to reach an increasingly health-conscious public.

The Association ran this month's "America Works Here" ad in Politico, one of the top-read publications on Capitol Hill and among policymakers.

This month's ad focuses on what restaurants are doing to increase the availability of fresh produce in restaurants; improve school meals; provide nutrition information to guests; make it easy to find healthful choices; and help kids live well through the NRA's new Kids LiveWell program.

The National Restaurant Association is offering a new seminar on how to capitalize on social media strategies to gain guest support for your philanthropic causes.

The Aug. 10 webinar, offered with Share Our Strength, will feature, Amanda Hite, founder and CEO of Talent Revolution, and Robin Ahearn, senior vice president/chief marketing officer, Ignite Restaurant Group.

The seminar will offer tips to use social media to make the Dine Out for No Kid Hungry successfull.

The Kids LiveWell initiative is off to a great start in helping make the healthful choice the easy choice for parents across the nation.

Launched yesterday by the National Restaurant Association in collaboration with Healthy Dining, Kids LiveWell made headlines from coast to coast and has been hailed as a program that will have a positive impact on the health of future generations.

Ninteen restaurant companies representing more than 15,000 locations nationwide have signed on as "inaugural leaders" of the Kids LiveWell program. The Association expects the program to grow in the months head, as word spreads.

A program set to begin in New York City could provide a model for recycling quickservice-restaurant containers from coast to coast.

The initiative, a collaboration of Global Green USA and several industry partners, builds on earlier experiments involving Global Green, Starbucks and Pret a Manger, the grab-and-go sandwich concept. Those undertakings yielded insights such as how to ask customers to sort recyclables from other trash and where to position the collection bins so they’ll be used.

Global Green and its partnership, the Coalition for Resource Recovery, also refined the processes for getting discarded cups, wrappers and other paper packaging to mills, where the refuse was turned into new products. Those experiences proved the viability of reclaiming quickservice containers and drew the interest of additional mills, boosting demand for used paper.

The House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing last week on the National Labor Relations Board's June 22 proposal to fast-track union elections.

Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) noted that "under the board’s proposal, a union election could occur in as little as 10 days." The National Restaurant Association will submit a letter for the record for last week's hearing.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace will submit comments opposing the NLRB's proposal. The NRA is a leading member of the CDW. Comments are due Aug. 22. Get more on last week's hearing.

Representatives from nearly a dozen leading restaurant companies shared their enthusiasm today for Kids LiveWell, a new National Restaurant Association kids’ dining initiative.

“When the National Restaurant Association approached us with this opportunity, we jumped at the chance,” said Raquel Mireles, senior manager, culinary innovation, Chili's Grill & Bar.

Kids LiveWell recognizes the importance of giving parents and children more options and information so they can make choices that are right for their families, National Restaurant Association President and CEO Dawn Sweeney said at the standing-room-only event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

"We know we have an important role to play in helping Americans lead healthier lives," Sweeney said. "Our vision has been to create an environment that encourages voluntary, flexible options for restaurateurs to address today's healthy living challenges -- and to develop a holistic approach to healthy living that encompasses a multitude of solutions."

In his latest commentary, the National Restaurant Association's Chief Economist Bruce Grindy breaks down the latest restaurant establishment trends on the state level. New York led the nation in restaurant establishment growth for the second consecutive year in 2010, while Louisiana posted the strongest location growth in percentage terms.

Nationally, the industry added nearly 7,700 eating- and drinking-place establishments* in 2010, according to recently released data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the state level, trends were generally positive in 2010. Forty-one states (including the District of Columbia) added eating- and drinking-place locations in 2010, while 10 states experienced a decline in locations. Contrast that with 2009, when 26 states (including DC) added locations and 25 states lost locations.

New York led the nation by adding a net 1,609 eating- and drinking-place establishments in 2010, the second consecutive year in which the Empire State posted the strongest location growth. Meanwhile, Texas saw its eating and drinking place sector expand by a net 979 locations in 2010.

Federal and state lawmakers are increasingly turning to E-Verify as a way to curb illegal immigration.

State lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee this year passed bills to require nearly all private-sector employers to use the federal E-Verify system. Once their laws are phased in, these six states will join Arizona, Mississippi and Utah in imposing E-Verify mandates on most private businesses. 

As gas prices creep up, the IRS has increased the amount that businesses can deduct for the cost of operating a car for business reasons.

The new rate for deductions is 55.5 cents per mile for business miles driven in the last six months of 2011, the IRS announced last month. That's 4 cents higher than the 51-cent limit the IRS established for the first six months of this year.

Businesses that don't want to track actual gas costs can use the IRS's standard mileage rate to figure out the deductible cost of operating a car for business purposes. Many businesses also use the IRS's optional rate as their benchmark for reimbursing employees for mileage.

Businesses and taxpayers can always choose to calculate the actual costs of using their vehicles rather than using the IRS rate. Get details on the IRS website.

Jacob Ziek’s family sold its Cleveland-area pizza chain before he was born, but the recent high school graduate inherited the hospitality gene.

Ziek, 18, spent a day shadowing foodservice and human resources professionals at the Cleveland Clinic, thanks to Sodexo. The job-shadowing experience was a result of Ziek’s participation in the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s ProStart program.

As a student at Fairview High School and Polaris Career Center, Ziek studied culinary arts and hospitality management through ProStart. Last year, he joined his school’s management team, which placed second in the Ohio ProStart Invitational.

Participating on her high school’s culinary team, working in a restaurant and applying for college apparently wasn’t challenging enough for Sarah Lieberman.

While getting ready to graduate from Monroe-Woodbury High School/Orange Ulster BOCES, the 17-year-old was working on a community service project to earn her the highest honor in Girl Scouts. And she started her college courses at the Culinary Institute of America four days before graduating from high school.

“I’ve wanted to go to CIA my whole life,” says Lieberman, who was supposed to start classes Aug. 2. Lieberman says she didn’t want to stay home all summer getting bored, so she asked the CIA admissions counselor if she could start early.

An Atlanta-based caterer is igniting sales as well as profits through an initiative to divert its garbage from landfills.

By recycling, composting and donating surplus food to charities, Affairs to Remember has reduced the volume of waste that’s trucked to dumps by 83 percent. What’s left: materials such as food handlers’ gloves and plastic wrap.

The National Restaurant Association member is constantly searching for ways to eliminate its landfill contributions, says Sandy Rothstein, Affairs’ green champion.

The National Restaurant Association is ramping up its efforts to make sure that restaurant employers can continue to use the H-2B visa program.

In his latest commentary, the National Restaurant Association's Chief Economist Bruce Grindy looks at the latest establishment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Despite the challenging economic environment, the restaurant industry added nearly 7,700 locations in 2010, and continued to outperform the nation’s overall private sector.     

In a sign of continued resilience in the midst of a challenging economic environment, the restaurant industry added a net 7,687 establishments* in 2010, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The 2010 performance was a solid improvement over 2009, when the industry added a net 2,568 locations.  In percentage terms, the restaurant industry added establishments at a 1.4 percent rate in 2010, up from a modest 0.5 percent gain in 2009.

Although the restaurant industry’s location growth remained below the strong 2006 and 2007 gains of more than 13,000 locations each year, it continued to outpace the overall private sector.  The overall private sector lost a net 4,000 establishments in 2010, which followed a decline of more than 80,000 establishments in 2009.  In fact, the restaurant industry outperformed the overall private sector in each of the last five years, in terms of growth rates in the number of locations.

The National Restaurant Association today is filing comments regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s draft menu labeling regulations. The Association was a primary advocate for the menu labeling law, passed in March 2010, which will require restaurant chains with 20 or more locations operating under the same brand to provide detailed nutrition information to consumers, and display calories on the menu, menu board, or drive-thru. Read our news release.

The National Restaurant Association is working across the board to make last year's health care law workable for restaurants.

As Congress considers changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and as regulators spell out the details on how employers will be required to comply, the Association is voicing the industry's strong concerns with parts of PPACA.