PRLA Winter 2019

6  • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters • Winter 2019 Jim Fris CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE HAPPY NEW YEAR! I’m am glad to be here as the 2019 chairman of the board, and excited to get to work. I thank Jim Gratton for his leadership last year, as well as all the calls by past chairmen offering their support for a successful 2019. As 2019 gets underway, I wanted to share with you my key areas of focus during my tenure: Expand our Footprint in Philadelphia Philadelphia has a vibrant and diverse restaurant scene with renowned and award-winning chefs. It has about 12,000 hotel rooms in Center City. It is one of the nation’s top domestic and international tourist destinations. Even with our recent growth in the Philadelphia market, less than 10 percent of Philadelphia’s hospitality community is engaged with PRLA. We intend to change that in 2019. With newly hired Ben Fileccia and Amy Miller, we are devoting more resources to the city and our members in Philadelphia, myself included, need to help Ben and Amy whether it’s making connections or encouraging a peer to join. Be at the Table In 2019, we will continue to shed the perception that we are an association of “no.” There are issues that will come up in the 2019/20 legislative session that we, as business owners, aren’t going to like. But we need to get in front of them so that we can be at the table negotiating a compromise in our members’ best interests. PRLA’s strength has always been our collective voice. Saying “no” causes us to lose our seat and our voice. Youth and Mentoring You know who your mentors are and can probably describe how they shaped you into the hospitality professional and leader you are today. It’s our turn now. How do we move our youth forward both within PRLA’s leadership ranks and in our respective businesses? For starters, we have to look at our industry’s youth as our future leaders. To help ensure their success, both in PRLA and in the industry, we must mentor them and advocate for them. It’s a privilege to step into the chairman position, and I take the responsibility seriously. But, let’s not forget we are an industry of fun. So I look forward to seeing many of you at our state and local networking events this year. • “...we have to look at our industry’s youth as our future leaders. To help ensure their success, both in PRLA and in the industry, we must mentor them and advocate for them.”