Realignment, Deeper Engagement on Your Doorstep

Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association is ramping up an important process to dig deep and implement a rolling strategic plan for the future of the organization. We are now over five years past the merger of the association, which brought lodging and restaurant members under the same umbrella of advocacy and connectivity. Many things have gone well and other areas we are excited to enhance.

As we look to the future, here are some samplings of what you can expect from your association as we further the value proposition for our lodging partners.

The Expansion of Guest Service Gold® Customer Service Training
Over 200 hospitality professionals in Oregon have already been trained through the ORLA Education Foundation’s new training product, Guest Service Gold. The launch has been made possible by the support of the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute and Travel Oregon. Contact Wendy Popkin with ORLA’s Education Foundation to learn more about adding a new dose of confidence to our front line hospitality workers who have lasting impressions on the guest experience.

Relaunching the ORLA Lodging Policy Committee
In one of ORLA’s most recent scientific polls of the membership, lodging members expressed that the value of greatest importance is industry representation. Our goals will include statewide industry representation, consistent participation, and establishing a regular meeting schedule to tackle the advocacy issues of importance to members.

Online Travel Companies
In my first five months on the job, it has become clear that more exploration is needed to look at how ORLA can assist our independent lodging members in negotiations with online travel companies who carry significant leverage in their talks with this segment of our membership. Given the supply filled by these elusive partners, what can ORLA do to pool the collective power of independents? The issue needs a deep dive.

Human Trafficking
We will not shy away from uncomfortable issues that impact our industry and the professionals that work within it. We recently held a brainstorming session about the importance of introducing legislation in Oregon that could create rehabilitation services needed specifically for victims of human trafficking to break the cycle of abuse as well as harsher punishments for individuals seeking these services. We remain optimistic that a viable partnership between ORLA, lawmakers, law enforcement, and district attorneys is in the works and that our work will be driven by real outcomes that have the potential to change lives.

These issues and others will continue to be explored as we do our best to expand and enhance our deliverables to the lodging industry. We look forward to working with you to accomplish important goals for our future. Our work always starts with your feedback.

Feel free to email me with your suggestions at JBrandt@OregonRLA.org. | Jason Brandt, President & CEO

Advocating on Behalf of Oregon's Hospitality Industry

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

Supporting ORLA Ensures Your Industry’s Vitality

Members networking at Convention

ORLA is a membership organization and, thus, it is important for its long term viability and fiscal health that it maintains a large, growing, supportive membership. Over the years the association has used all types of sales approaches in its efforts to convince industry operators that they needed to part with a small portion of their hard earned dollars to support its activities. At times we leaned on our very successful suite of endorsed services and the savings they provided members the key reason for joining. Certainly, in terms of a return this made sense to the thousands of operators who joined for that reason. However, this approach created a purely financial relationship that didn’t last if a program’s returns didn’t meet a member’s expectations, leading to a constant turnover in members.

That has led to ORLA changing its sales message to one focusing on the mission of the association as the key reason for joining. That mission, one that calls for ORLA to advocate for, communicate to, and educate its members, is one that when used as the reason for joining produces long term, loyal members who understand and support what ORLA is there to do for them. For your association is the only organization in the state existing to provide those services to your business.

We advocate by representing your interests before the state and federal legislatures and local city councils and county commissions on all issues affecting your business. In other words we lobby for you on a daily basis and are recognized as a leading business association in this arena. One of the largest business political action committees in the state is also managed by ORLA to increase your political profile. We also proactively promote all the good the industry and your business does for Oregon to the state’s media. We serve as your spokesperson.

We communicate to you the information you need to have to successfully operate a business. Those communications can be an explanation of a new regulation or statute that applies to you and your business. It can be providing information on a new program, new technology, industry news or best practices in management. We communicate to the industry through two print magazines, a great website, two e-newsletters, as-needed government affairs e-alerts, and lottery newsletters and confidential bulletins.

We educate management and their employees by providing cutting edge online training programs in food handling and alcohol serving; classroom management-level food safety training; an annual regional trade show and annual convention; and all the information listed in the communications above.

No other organization provides all of these services to you because protecting and representing your interests is our sole reason for existing. We know that meeting that mission creates a better operating environment for your business, thus enabling you to be more profitable.

Membership also benefits those associates that sell goods and services to the industry. It is in their best interest to support ORLA too as the ability for their customers to turn a profit and grow their businesses means that their business will in turn sell more goods or services. It behooves all industry members – retail and associate - to support the only association representing their interests in Oregon by becoming a member; for what is good for the retailer is good for the associate and what is good for the associate is good for the retailer. We’re one industry and we’re in this together. If you’re not a member, consider our mission, this message, and support your association. It truly is a low cost investment in your business that will produce large returns. | Steve McCoid, President & CEO, ORLA