PR&LA Fall 2018

4  • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters • Fall 2018 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK IN THE FALL 2015 edition of Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Matters, we pointed out that restaurants in the U.S. donate more than $3 billion to charity annually and that about 90 percent of restaurants participate in community engagement. Approximately 85 percent of hotels contribute to charities and the same number of hotels also make in-kind contributions of room nights, meeting space, goods, or services. Additionally, almost 75 percent of restaurant owners donate to food relief and combatting hunger. What’s ironic, and a little sad, is how little press our industry gets for the good work it does. I discovered one reason for that when I spoke with our friend Cynthia Smith from Hoss’s Family Steak & Sea restaurant. Hoss’s had recently held a fundraiser for the family of fallen State Trooper Landon Weaver. Cynthia was reluctant to seek press coverage for their terrific good work because as she said, “This was about helping a family in need, not about publicity for our company.” While it might appear self-serving to promote your charitable good work, PRLA will eagerly share your stories of goodness and opportunity, and that’s important to our industry. Tell us about what you’re doing, and we’ll tell the story. It’s easy—visit www.prla.org/yourstory to get started. We need to tell these kinds of stories to combat the false image some groups like to paint of this being an industry of big profits for owners and dead-end jobs for employees. One out of every three people get their first job in our industry and 80 percent of restaurant owners started in a line-level restaurant position. We are the largest employer of minority managers of any industry. We also know, as I pointed out above, that we are an incredibly charitable industry in which almost every restaurant and hotel is helping those in need. By the way, while it’s not why we do it, there is a business case for helping others. Chip Bell in his book Kaleidoscope— Delivering Innovative Service that Sparkles, compares innovative service to a kaleidoscope. Further, Chip compares each of the colored pieces of glass in the kaleidoscope to a critical component in delivering memorable service. One of my favorites of these nine characteristics is generosity. Chip’s point is that the generosity of a business has a magnetic impact on customers. It attracts them because it conveys to the customer the kind of unconditional positive regard that John Longstreet Celebrating Our Good Deeds “While it might appear self-serving to promote your charitable good work, PRLA will eagerly share your stories of goodness and opportunity, and that’s important to our industry.” continues on page 8 ➔