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| Oregon State Capitol |
Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association’s (ORLA)
stripped down mission statement to “advocate, communicate and educate Oregon’s
hospitality industry” has been discussed frequently in this publication. These
three words are the reason ORLA exists, however, there is nothing like real
world examples of how ORLA is meeting these goals to illustrate the point. I’ll
give you some examples below.
We’re certainly in the midst of providing advocacy for you
by representing the industry at the 78th Oregon Legislative Session, which
began in February 2015. Your association is tracking over 300 bills that
could affect your business. The most visible are statewide paid sick leave, a
variety of proposals increasing the minimum wage between $12 and $15 an hour, a
bill that requires work schedules be written two weeks out for foodservice
operations with a penalty for any subsequent changes, and a cancellation of the
ban on local governments passing their own minimum wages. ORLA’s lobbyist, Bill
Perry, is at the Capitol daily representing your interests to the legislators
and working to ensure all damaging legislation is not passed.
ORLA held its bi-annual Taste Oregon Legislative reception on February
17th, drawing over 225 industry members in attendance including a significant number of
legislators and their staffers. Here, we’re talking about advocacy in terms of
interacting with legislators, and communication by informing our members of the
issues being dealt with in Salem.
ORLA’s Education Foundation helps meet the educational mission by producing the annual OregonProStart High School Culinary Championships. This year’s event was held at
Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde. There were 20 teams competing in an
event that requires teams of four to plan and cook a 3-course meal in one hour
using two gas burners while properly handling and prepping the food. The winning team from
South Salem High School will compete in the National ProStart Invitational in
Anaheim representing Oregon.
Finally, we are in the midst of preparing for and planning
the annual Northwest Foodservice Show with our partners at the Washington
Restaurant Association. The largest foodservice show in the Northwest, this
typically draws over 5,000 and will be held in Portland this year at the
Convention Center, April 26-27. We’re anticipating 400 booths featuring the
latest in products and services plus a full agenda of educational seminars, new
product listings and chef presentations.
That’s just a sampling of the work and services ORLA
delivered to the industry in the first quarter of 2015. For
those who haven’t become ORLA members yet, please consider joining. All it
takes is a call or email to get a helpful representative to review all the
programs membership provides. We look forward to working with you as we support our great
industry. | Steve McCoid, President & CEO,
Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association
