FRL Dec/Jan 2012

SECRETS OF SUCCESS

BUD & ALLEY’SGood Food. Good People. Good Times.

O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E F LO R I DA R E S TA U R A N T & LO D G I N G A S S O C I AT I O N

De

ce

mb

er

20

11/Ja

nu

ar

y 20

12 W

WW

.reSTauranTanDLODGInG.cOm

Legendary Hospitality’s Bruce Craul in front of

Destin’s Emerald Grande

The Legendary Service of

BRUCE CRAULLegendary Hospitality’s COO and 2012 FRLA Chairman

SECRETS OF SUCCESS

BUD & ALLEY’SGood Food. Good People. Good Times.

O F F I C I A L P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E F LO R I DA R E S TA U R A N T & LO D G I N G A S S O C I AT I O N

De

ce

mb

er

20

11/Ja

nu

ar

y 20

12 W

WW

.reSTauranTanDLODGInG.cOm

Legendary Hospitality’s Bruce Craul in front of

Destin’s Emerald Grande


BRUCE CRAULLegendary Hospitality’s COO and 2012 FRLA Chairman

2 December 2011/January 2012 FloriDa restaurant & loDg ing associat ion

Introducing SafeStaff® Online Foodhandler

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is proud to announce that it is now offering online food safety training to the hospitality industry. As the Department of Business and Professional Regulation contracted provider, FRLA has developed the SafeStaff®

Foodhandler Online Training Program.

The SafeStaff® program is convenient, affordable and meets all of the requirements mandated by Florida law.

For more information, visit www.SafeStaff.org or contact our Education and Training Department at (850)224-2250 or (866)372-7233.

Official State-cOntracted fOOd Safety PrOvider – dBPr# 1752486

www.SafeStaff.org

1-866-372-SAFE

FRLA-Ad.indd 1 7/29/11 5:00:54 PM

Flor iDa restaurant & loDg ing 3www.restaurantandlodging.com

Introducing SafeStaff® Online Foodhandler

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is proud to announce that it is now offering online food safety training to the hospitality industry. As the Department of Business and Professional Regulation contracted provider, FRLA has developed the SafeStaff®

Foodhandler Online Training Program.

The SafeStaff® program is convenient, affordable and meets all of the requirements mandated by Florida law.

For more information, visit www.SafeStaff.org or contact our Education and Training Department at (850)224-2250 or (866)372-7233.

Official State-cOntracted fOOd Safety PrOvider – dBPr# 1752486

www.SafeStaff.org

1-866-372-SAFE

FRLA-Ad.indd 1 7/29/11 5:00:54 PM

From t he ch a ir m a n’s de sk

Aheartfelt note of thanks for allowing to me to be your Chairman during 2011. It’s been an honor and a very rewarding year. I truly appreciate the oppor-

tunity to have served as your Chairman. This is an Association that represents over 20% of Florida’s economy, which posts 57 billion dol-lars in revenue annually and maintains over 900,000 people employed. That is a lot of jobs! And, with over 10,000 members, this Association creates lifelong, great friends. I know it has for me. Congratulations to my friend Bruce Craul as he takes over the helm as the 2012 Chairman of the board at the Winter Board meeting on December 5-7, 2011, at his beautiful resort, the Emerald Grand in Destin Florida. With Bruce, you have found yourself a great leader.

But, we do have challenges in the road ahead. As we enter 2012, there are many issues to keep our eye on, including:

• Minimum Wage• Immigration• On Line Travel Tax• Destination Resort Casinos• Fairness in public lodging taxation for

private vacation rentals.And, commodity costs continue to rise. I

think that the challenge for hotel and restau-rant operations is to balance these ever-increas-ing costs with value and then, we need to pile

on the service. Service is king.We need to understand that great service is

the cornerstone of success for our industry. I say that we try to deliver great service which results in a lifetime memorable experience for our valued customers and guests. As operators, one of our goals should be to leave our custom-ers with unforgettable hospitality. We need to better partner with our vendors. We need to recognize that we are allies.

We need to ask our employees and custom-ers more often what they like about our busi-ness. And, as tough as it is to hear, we need to ask them what they don’t like. We need to always learn what we are doing right or wrong and constantly strive to improve.

And the same goes for the FRLA. Tell us what we can do better to help you run your business.

So why should you be involved with the FRLA?Between worrying about the Economy, new

restaurant financing, real estate challenges, taxes, government relations, rising commodity costs, Obama care, social media, branding, staffing, training, food safety, alcohol aware-ness, PCI credit card compliance, lawsuits, security and safety.....well, I for one am glad to have the FRLA on my side.

Hey, and I didn’t even mention food and beverage, remember when we used to just worry about that?

I remain positive that when joined together, we will overcome any obstacles that appear in our road to being successful. Blue skies are

Your Association Needs You

Happy Holidays!FRLA has provided FR&L readers with an allergen awareness poster that can be used for training and displayed in your establishment. See the inside back cover.

ahead for all of us. Our industry is so abun-dant and bountiful for anyone who is willing to work. But, for our industry to be great, I believe, it will take the combined contributions of many great people. So, I will end my time as chairman where I began earlier this year....

Stand up and protect your business. Be an active FRLA member. Show up, speak up and demand that this association is great.

The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association needs you.

– DAvID REIDExecutive vice President of Operations

Miller’s Ale House Restaurants2011 Chairman of the Board

Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association

In October, FRLA Chairman Dave Reid was the keynote speaker at FRLA’s Tallahassee Chapter meeting at Tri-Eagle Sales headquarters. Thanks so much to Tri-Eagle for hosting the event!

Photos by Joel silver videograPhy


dePartments3 From the Chairman’s Desk your association needs you

7 Food for Thought legislative stance for 2012: Pro-Family, Pro-business tourism

9 CEO Forecast david Warriner, tapper & Company Properties management, inc.

12 Chefs That Sizzle bob axenfeld, hyatt regency bonaventure

15 In Memory Paying tribute to dave bitner

15 Inside FRLA meet the senior staff of your association

16 Cabinet Profile meet Jeff atwater, Florida’s Chief Financial officer

17 Member Benefit Profile maximize your state association and ah&la membership

18 Northwest Florida Tourism Continues Rebound numbers show increase

27 Wine Tips Wines for the season

32 Health Care Reform business tax Credits for employee health Premiums

34 Regulation new ada requirements for swimming Pools, spas, Wading Pools

37 Social Media trifecta for restaurants and hotels generate more revenue

39 A La Carte Cool apps, Pest Control for ticks, top trends

40 Movers & Shakers space Coast legislative awards dinner

42 Green Tips Just how ‘green’ Can a barbecue restaurant be?

43 Event Calendar 2011 - 2012

45 Foundation tampa bay rays & rays baseball Foundation raise $60,000

46 CPFM Exam Schedule register at www.safestaff.org

47 Big 8 Allergens allergen awareness Poster

contents 8 GovernorScott‘GetsToWork’

Governor Rick Scott continues his ‘Lets Get to Work’ Days tradition by spending the day working at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant and Waterfront Market in Panama City Beach.

20 BruceCraul:2012ChairmanoftheBoardThe Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association has announced Bruce Craul of Legendary Hospitality, Inc. is the 2012 Chairman of the Board. Craul plans to invigorate the membership in FRLA and show people how important it is to get involved.

28 SecretsofSuccess:Bud&Alley’sFRLA was fortunate to spend some time with Dave Rauschkolb, the owner of Bud & Alley’s Restaurant on 30-A in Seaside, Florida. The restaurant has been open for twenty-five years and still maintains the motto “Good Food, Good People & Good Times.”

December/January 2012 • WWW.reSTauranTanDLODGInG.cOm


Larry Miller Operating Partner, Rare Las Olas

Fort Lauderdale

Every meal at Rare in Las Olas is well done. Manager Larry Miller credits his success to attention to detail. Turns out the

details are also key to energy efficiency. Rare got a Business Energy Evaluation from FPL. Our expert examined the

restaurant’s cooling, lighting and refrigeration systems. They learned where their energy dollars are going, how their energy

use compares to similar businesses and how they can save. Our customized report is helping them save energy. They may

qualify for financial incentives to upgrade equipment. Now, Larry can focus on making sure every dish is perfect and less

on the energy it took to make it.

“The little things add up to big results.”

Call FPL’s Business Customer Care Center today for a Business Energy Evaluation at 1-877-748-4233



Carol B. Dover

Food For t hoUGht

F lorida, a top tourist destina-tion, is also the home to the some of the finest hospital-ity businesses in the world. The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) is proud to represent this vital

industry. Recently, our Board of Directors met to assemble a comprehensive list of policy issues that we believe are critical to the furtherance of a pro-family and pro-business tourism and hospitality environ-ment for the state.

Three issues that we want to make Floridians aware of are online travel companies (OTCs), immigration, and gambling casinos. We expect the legislature to debate these mea-sures; the outcome of such legislation will have a direct impact on the economic viability of our state.

Economists predict we will face up to a 2 billion dollar shortfall this session. With a stalled economy, reductions in spending and cuts to current government programs are inevi-table. Identifying new funding sources will be a difficult task for our elected officials and one in which the FRLA believes should be solidly founded on proven and sensible actions sup-porting a pro-growth agenda.

Online Travel Companies – Over the past three years, one topic that draws heated debate is the issue of Online Travel Companies (OTCs). During the 2011 Legislative Session, a measure was discussed that would have cre-ated a special tax advantage for out-of-state OTCs such as Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity. The bill, which passed the House but died in the Senate, would have deprived Florida of more than $20 million in tax revenue annu-ally, according to the Florida Association of Counties. The FRLA firmly believes that all companies doing business in Florida should pay their fair share of taxes. Our state policies should not put hard-working Florida compa-nies at a disadvantage.

Immigration – Immigration is an issue that brings out passionate and heated discus-sion. However, emotion-based action certainly could have serious unintended consequences. Many states believe that our nation’s immi-gration policy must be revamped. In light of

federal inaction, many states are implementing their own immigration policies.

Some would have Florida adopt the sweep-ing and controversial policies that mirror other states like Arizona, Alabama, or Georgia. However, Florida is not like other states. Consider that approximately 14 percent of Florida’s 82.3 million visitors came from out-side of the United States. Florida could risk losing its world-renowned convention business as disenfranchised people chose “friendlier” destinations.

Furthermore, every state thus far that has passed an immigration law has found itself in federal court defending it. The costly litigation does nothing to solve the real problems that we are facing.

We believe that working with the Federal government on a national solution is the best approach to the problem. It also helps ensure that the largest employing industry, providing more than 1 million jobs in Florida, can con-tinue to provide work and services.

Destination Casino Resorts –With Legislators looking for budget solutions in these hard economic times, another topic that is heating up is “Destination Casino Resorts.” A rose by any other name is still a rose – and this rose is surrounded by thorns. Whether it is called destination resorts by proponents or casino hotels by opponents, it still boils down

By CAROL B. DOvER

chaIrman

Dave Reid Miller’s Ale House, Jupiter

chaIrman-eLecT

Bruce Craul Legendary Hospitality Inc., Destin

SecreTary-TreaSurer

Andrew Reiss Andrews 228 and Andrews

Capital Grill & Bar, Tallahassee

Carlos Molinet Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina, Ft. Lauderdale

Tony Gallo Midtown Catering, Palmetto

Jim McManemon, Jr. Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island

PreSIDenT/ceO

Carol B. Dover, fMp

eDITOr

Susie R. McKinleyemaIL: [email protected]

PubLIcaTIOn manaGer

John M. [email protected]

aDverTISInG

Leslie L. Baker 850-545-5023 • [email protected]

PrODucTIOn aSSISTanT

Victoria J. [email protected]

PubLISheD by

Destination Communications, Inc.1334 TImberLane rD., TaLLahaSSee, FL 32312

Phone: 850-545-1362 • Fax: 850-907-8245

Florida Restaurant & Lodging magazine is the official publication of the Florida restaurant & Lodging association, Inc. (FrLa). FrLa reserves the right to accept, modify, or reject any and all content submitted for publication, whether paid or otherwise, solely at its dis-cretion. unless otherwise expressly indicated, FrLa does not endorse or warrant any products or services contained herein. In addition, unless otherwise expressly noted, the opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FrLa, its directors, officers, members, or staff. content submissions may be made to the Publisher’s Office by regular mail or by e-mail. Please note that submit-ted materials will not be returned.FRLA Headquarters Publisher’s Address230 S. adams St. 1334 Timberlane rd.Tallahassee, FL 32301 Tallahassee, FL 32312 850/224-2250 850/545-1362Fax: 850/224-9213 Fax: 850/907-8245

ad rates and Submission Guidelines at www.RestaurantAndLodging.com

Florida Restaurant & Lodging magazine (uSPS 002-629; ISSn 1044-03640) is published bi-monthly. FrLa members receive this publication as part of their membership dues. non-members receive it as a marketing and promotion effort to inform the Florida foodservice and lodging industry of efforts made on its behalf by FrLa. Printing and mailing services: boyd brothers Printing, Inc., Panama city, FL.

address changes may be sent to: FrLa, PO box 1779, Tallahassee, FL 32302 or via email to [email protected]. Subscription address changes (digi-tal or uS mail, can be made at www.restaurantandLodging.com, and click the manage Subscription tab.

M AG A Z I N E

Legislative Stance for 2012: Pro-Family, Pro-Business TourismOnline Travel Companies, Immigration and Gambling Are Key Issues for Hospitality in Upcoming Session


to one incendiary issue - gambling. In 2011 a Destination Casino Resort bill

died in committee. A similar bill has been introduced by Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff (R-West Palm Beach) and Representative Erik Fresen (R-Miami). The measure would permit at a minimum three gambling establishments to be constructed, rumored to house the largest casinos in the world.

Florida is considered one of the most family-

friendly destination locations in the world. Should we trade in the family-friendly beaches and theme parks for gambling?

Should we gamble our decades of work to build our wholesome reputation on the risky proposition that big spending foreign gamblers will solve our economic problems?

The answer is an overwhelming “no.” Florida can learn the opportunity cost of

the casino hotels from other states, from the

spinoff troubles of gambling to the family, to the demonstrated increases in crime, and reject this option.

Any benefit to Florida will never outweigh the heavy cost.

Carol B. Dover serves as President/CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, whose mission is to protect, educate and promote the state’s largest hospitality member industry.

Continuing his ‘Let’s Get to Work’ Days tradi-tion, Governor Scott worked at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant and Waterfront Market in Panama City Beach

last month. Governor Scott is no stranger to kitchens, having worked in the mess hall preparing and serving food on the USS Glover when he was in the Navy. In middle school, Governor Scott also worked in his school’s cafeteria serving his fellow students lunch to earn a hot meal, and he worked as a server at a Steak and Ale restaurant in Texas. During his workday at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant in Panama City Beach, Governor Scott helped to prepare fresh gulf seafood, make pies and serve cus-tomers dining at the restaurant.

Before he started work at Captain Anderson’s, the Governor noted “A good hon-est day of work is something I have always valued,” said Governor Scott, “I am honored to work alongside the hardworking staff of Captain Anderson’s Restaurant, and I’m also looking forward to enjoying some of the great seafood I’ll get to help prepare, too.”

Governor Scott’s workday began at 2 p.m. in the restaurant’s kitchen, where he helped prepare gulf seafood for guests, including grouper, snapper, and scamp. Later, after pre-paring dinner rolls and other baked goods in the restaurant’s bakery, Governor Scott rolled silverware, prepared the dining room and served restaurant guests.

Captain Anderson’s Restaurant was chosen for Governor Scott’s fourth ‘Let’s Get to Work’ Day to highlight Florida’s world-famous seafood and its important role in attracting tourism. Every 85 visitors sup-port one Florida job, which means the more people who travel to Northwest Florida to experience the fresh gulf seafood, the more jobs will be created. In the first six months of 2011, Florida saw a 4.5 percent increase in the number of visitors (44.3 million visi-

tors), compared to the same period last year. In addition, the hotel revenue collections in Bay County – home of Panama City Beach - were up 36 percent in June through August com-pared to one year ago.

Earlier this year, a $30 million grant from BP secured by Governor Scott for major marketing initiatives helped drive the record hotel revenue gains in the area. The $30 million grant has supported a number of new marketing pro-

grams by the seven counties in the Northwest Florida Tourism Council (NWFTC), which were geared toward driving both summer and shoulder-season travel.

“I’m thrilled to see tourism in Northwest Florida doing so well,” said Governor Scott. “Florida’s pristine beaches, world-famous fishing and delicious seafood are part of what makes our state the greatest place to live, work and play.”

Governor Scott ‘Gets To Work’ at Captain Anderson’s Restaurant in Panama City Beach


Infinite Energy, Inc. is Florida’s largest independent natural gas provider, proudly serving Florida’s restaurants and hotels for over 10 years. Lock in all or a portion of your natural gas usage for up to 5 years so you can protect

yourself against soaring energy prices and save money versus your local utility. Special discounts apply for FRLA members! Call 877-IVE GOT GAS for more information!

forecastFLor ida r estaUr a nt & LodGinG a ssoci ation

David Warriner is president of Tapper and Company Properties Management, Inc., a hospitality and com-mercial property management company located in Gulf County, Florida. Tapper and Company manages the Port Inn, The Thirsty Goat and MainStay Suites.

In addition, David is managing director for the George G. and Amelia G. Tapper Foundation in Port

St. Joe, Florida. He earned a B.S.B.A. in Finance from the University of Florida in 1986. He is married to Patricia Tapper Warriner, and they have two children, Amelia and Dave, Jr.

David has an extensive background in community service in Bay, Gulf and Franklin Counties. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Early Learning Coalition of Northwest Florida, Gulf Coast Community College Foundation and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. He has served in the capacity of President and/or direc-tor of his local Chamber of Commerce, local Lions Club and about any and all local community development organizations that have existed in Gulf County during the last 10 years. He is a founding director of the Community Development Corporation and has worked to initiate afford-able and sustainable housing initiatives in Gulf County.

David is also very proud to co-chair, with his wife, Patricia, the private community fundraising effort necessary to bring Sacred Heart Hospital to Port St. Joe. They have been, in part, responsible for over two million dollars being pledged to the enhancement of the Hospital’s services.

What do you think will be the biggest industry trend in the last half of 2011?

With regards to hotel operations, it would be the trend to maximize profitability for every square foot of available space. As capital has become tighter, it is important to make sure every aspect of the physical plant is contributing to the bottom-line, both from a cost and revenue perspective. Also we are getting back to basics; focus on staff, training, cleanliness and excellence in customer service. These are things that can be done when capital is tight. We are also seeing growth rates in the extended stay segment out-pace traditional transient offerings. As the economy improves, we expect this to continue. On the F&B side we are focusing

DAVID WARRINERPresident of Tapper and Company Properties Management, Inc.

on limited menu, small plate offerings that are made with healthier ingredients. People are simplifying. Bigger is not always better.

What issue would you most like to see positively addressed by Florida’s legislature?

The legislature needs to focus on get-ting Floridians back to work. A strong com-mitment to economic development needs to be part of their agenda for 2012, and I expect our Governor will demand this. Our industry is closely tied to the financial well-being of our friends and neighbors. A strong Florida is a strong hospitality industry and vice versa. Also, they need to put the OTC’s in their place and allow all of us to compete on a level playing field.

What is the single greatest factor in the success of your business?

Our team! I hire the best available people, pay better than my competi-tion, and allow them to do their job. I set expectations and hold them accountable, but we have a lot of fun while pleasing our guests.

How has participation in FRLA positively affected your business?

It has been one of the most rewarding things I have done professionally. I did not enter this business with an extensive hospitality background. But once in, the FRLA put me in a position to meet and learn from the people in the State that make it all happen. It also has been a great way to create awareness with the decision-makers from around Florida in what we have to

David Warriner


offer in Florida’s Great Northwest. I have been involved in many organizations in the past, but the FRLA is by far the most cost-effective investment I could have made to support my business and personal professional growth.

Is there anything you would like to share with Florida’s hospitality industry members?

Come visit us on Florida’s Forgotten Coast. If you have never seen Port Saint Joe, we will surprise you. We are the consummate old Florida. If you stop by the Thirsty Goat, I may even buy you a drink!

How has your business strategy changed over the last few years?

We are moving from a reactive to a proactive business model. There was a time prior to the oil spill when we just had to wait for guests to fill our rooms. Now we have to go out and get them. We now lean heavily on our strategic partnerships like our local TDC, Chamber of Commerce, visit Florida and of course FRLA. Social media is becoming a very important means to communicate with our guests. We always have to be current and relevant to what people expect from us.

Coming soon!New video on ADA

regulations and compliance.

Enabling Independence: Service for Guests with

Disabilities

DVD will include both English and Spanish

versions. For more details, call 800-349-0299or 407-999-8100

www.ahlei.org11-04101



Executive Chef Peter Timmins, C.M.C.Know a chef who is creating a buzz with innovative cuisine, exceptional presentation or fresh new ideas? FRLA wants to tell the state about them in a bi-monthly feature in FR&L Magazine. Submit your favorite chef du jour to [email protected]. Please include a brief explanation of why your submission should be considered one of the hottest chefs in Florida. Be sure to include restaurant and contact information. Submissions will be featured in FR&L Magazine as Chefs That Sizzle!

HotChef?Are You Considered Among Florida’s Hottest Chefs?

BOB AXENFELDHYATT REGENCYBONAVENTURE

Chef Bob Axenfeld is a seasoned veteran of the culinary industry having worked for a number of high-end resorts and country clubs in his 28-year career. At Hyatt Regency Bonaventure, Axenfeld is responsible for coor-dinating all day-to-day operations, including

creating and developing menu concepts, training staff and ensuring corporate quality control and standards, at all the food and beverage outlets on the hotel’s 23-acre property.

Axenfeld has led Hyatt Regency Bonaventure in receiving the AAA Four-Diamond Award for the past three years, along with becoming the first restaurant in Broward County to offer sustainable seafood.

In addition, Axenfeld leads all Hyatt Hotel Chefs for infor-mation on allergens, teaching and developing recipes for both allergens and alternative diets. Axenfeld has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines as well as television and radio programs for his culinary creativity and talent. Most recently, Chef Bob Axenfeld was featured on Channel 7’s “A Bite with Belkeys”, Deco Drive and Univision Latin Television.

Prior to his position at Hyatt Regency Bonaventure, Axenfeld served on the culinary staff at Hyatt Regency

Jacksonville, Florida. Axenfeld also served on the culinary team at Maxim’s De Paris and L’ Omnibus in New york City, as well as Epping Forest yacht & Country Club, Hilton & Towers Hotel, River City Brewing Company and Adam’s Mark Hotel all in Jacksonville.

Axenfeld has been recognized by the Chaine des Rotisseurs for excel-lence in the culinary arts and received a Richard T. Keeting Award for outstanding achievement in food preparation and service.

He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.y.

Chef Bob Axenfeld

Please describe your restaurant concepts.Fine-dining, AAA Four-Diamond Steakhouse.

What about your restaurants and South Florida inspires you?

Tropical with Latin influences, as well as local produce.

Please describe some of your most popular menu items.Sauteed Wild Shrimp Arepas and Guasacaca, Seared Deep Sea

Scallops, New york Strip and seasonal specials.

What is your “sizzle” – for example, cuisine and food that are your signature or “specialties”, unique food presentations or any new ideas that you are using?

Sustainable seafood with a clean, healthy cooking style, and our house steak seasonings along with utilizing our own garden for herbs.

To what do you attribute your success in the restaurant business?

Quality, consistency, creativity and service!

You have quite a diverse background in the culinary world. How does your past experience influence your work at Ireland’s?

Maintaining the focus while creating new dishes.

What is the favorite dish you’ve created?Foie Gras with Roasted Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash,

featuring Candied Bacon and Cherry Compote.


©2011 Progress Energy Florida, Inc.

WANT TO LOWER YOUROPERATING EXPENSES?

To get the savings started, schedule a free Business Energy Check by calling 1.877.372.8477.

OUR ENERGY-EFFICIENCY REBATES CAN HELP.Lower your expenses by increasing the energy effi ciency of your hotel or restaurant. Progress Energy’s rebates make energy-saving, bill-lowering upgrades easier and more affordable than ever.

SAVE ENERGY AND MONEY WITH OUR ENERGY-EFFICIENCY REBATES.

*Other requirements may apply.

UPGRADE ENERGY SAVINGS REBATES*

Lighting Up to 40% of lighting costsUp to $5 per light forevery fi xture replaced

Packaged Terminal Air Conditioning Coil Cleaning

Up to 20% of heating and cooling costs Earn $15 per unit cleaned

Demand Control Ventilation Up to 20% of ventilation costsEarn up to $50/ton incentivewith all electric equipment


Council of State Restaurant Associations

~40 State Restaurant

Associations

The National Restaurant Association, Council of State Restaurant Associations, 40 state restaurant associations and

Heartland Payment Systems® have joined forces to upgrade the crucial business services of

every restaurateur. Full Course Business SolutionsSM — an exclusively endorsed suite of payments products and

services — does just that, helping you reduce expenses, enhance operations and increase profitability.

Join the revolution …and discover how you can improve your restaurant.

Full Course Business SolutionsCard Processing • Check Management • Payroll Services • Tip Management Services

© Copyright 2010 National Restaurant Association. All rights reserved. © 2010 Heartland Payment Systems, Inc. OP_REST_FC_1_10 - 02.10

To learn more about how this movement can help revolutionize your restaurant, visit GoFullCourse.com and call 866.941.1HPS (1477) x150.


Meet the Senior Staff of FRLA

FRLA is blessed with many tal-ented and dedicated employees who serve the Industry in their area of expertise. For this Edition of the F R & L Magazine, we are

highlighting FRLA’s Senior Staff. These folks work tirelessly to “do what is right” for members and Industry. Much of the time their jobs encompass solving members’ problems, handling governmental rela-tions issues, coordinating educational and celebratory events for members, and man-aging the organization as a whole from board members to staff.

Carol B. Dover, FMPCarol B. Dover has been President/CEO

of the more than 10,000-member Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association since July 1995. Dover is a professional association manager, a lobbyist, a former government insider, a Florida State University Dedman School of Hospitality graduate with a degree in hotel and restaurant management, and a working mother.

After graduating from Florida State University in 1978, Dover accepted the posi-tion of Assistant Director of the Beer Industry of Florida. This position familiarized her with the rules, regulations and tax laws associ-ated with the beverage industry – informa-tion which has been beneficial in her role with FRLA.

In 1989, Dover moved inside the halls of the Florida Capitol and was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, Executive Office of the Governor, serving under the Martinez administration. As Martinez’s Deputy

By SUSIE MCKINLEy

Carol Dover

Flor iDa restaurant & loDg ing 15

sh

em

s h

am

ilto

n P

ho

to

On September 15, 2011, FRLA paid tribute to Republican Party of Florida Chairman and friend of Industry, David Bitner, with a “Celebration of Life” held at WC Dover Farm.

Dave passed away on September 8, 2011 due to complications from ALS. The outdoor service and reception were held on the lake at WC Dover Farm and hosted more than 600 friends and colleagues. Governor Rick Scott and First Lady Ann Scott attended the celebration and supported Dave’s wife, Wendy, and family throughout the service. In addition to Governor and Mrs. Scott, many current and past Florida Senate and House leaders attended along with Congressmen and women and local political figures.

Dave, a former legislator, was instrumental in moving forward many FRLA legislative initiatives during his time in office, including elimination of the beverage tax.

FRLA President and CEO Carol Dover noted that “Dave was a leader in so many ways for our industry. He fought endlessly for less taxes, less regulation and to make Florida a better place for business. In addition, he was a good man and a great husband to Wendy. He will be missed by so many.”

Dave Bitner was known as a hard-working, committed legislator and while in the Legislature was awarded the “Legislative Leadership Award” from FRLA, which was then the Florida Restaurant Association. He also received many awards from local and statewide organizations which recognized his leadership.

Paying Tribute to Dave Bitner

David Bitner

in memorY

Ph

oto

s b

y Jo

el

sil

ve

r v

ide

og

ra

Ph

y


A t the cornerstone of my mission as your CFO is the belief that Florida can best prosper through its people rather than its government. It’s a shame that many have

looked towards government as the solution rather than entrepreneurs. As I travel around the state, I frequently stop into local restau-rants for a bite to eat—like the Catfish Place in Apopka and the Sweet Magnolia Deli in Panama City. I like to get their first-hand account of how our strained economy is impacting them and how we can do things differently to better support the hotel and restaurant industry. The number one concern I hear from restaurant owners is that burden-some regulations create excessive costs, ulti-mately adding to the impact of our strained economy.

I can’t tell you how many times a business owner has taken the time to point out their wall of framed documents and certificates—all of which are to run their business. They often share stories with me of all the government reg-ulators who come to see them throughout the year. Not only are these regulations diverting dollars away from their business, but they are also wasting their time. This time can be better spent focusing on how to grow their business and provide a better service to Floridians.

Furthermore, Floridians can’t afford to over burden an industry that plays such an impor-tant role in our economy. In 2010, this industry contributed $30.1 billion to Florida’s economy, up from $28.9 billion the previous year, and employs roughly 770,000 people in Florida. I rely on this kind of Florida-specific economic data to make decisions here in Tallahassee, and it’s important for businesses to have easy access to this data in order to make informed deci-sions for their business. That was the inspiration behind Florida’s Bottom Line, a quarterly, inter-active publication that will serve as a one-stop-shop for information specifically about Florida’s economy. The publication is available on my Web site at www.myfloridacfo.com. My goal is that it will become your go-to source for eco-nomic data and information on our state, and will help you decide when it’s the right time to

Meet Jeff AtwaterFlorida’s Chief Financial Officer

expand, hire new employees or even start a new business venture.

Most importantly, I want to hear from you. I know that the best ideas for how we can sup-port your industry come from those who live it every day. So please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected] to let me know how I can help. I believe that creat-ing an environment where businesses can thrive will ensure long-term, stable economic growth for our state and allow entrepreneurs like you to make your business dreams a reality.

Jeff Atwater, a fifth-generation Floridian, was elected Florida’s Chief Financial Officer November 2, 2010. Guided by his family’s time-honored tradition of serving the community, CFO Atwater was inspired by his parents’ values, instilling a hard work ethic, a commitment to family, and a deep sense of appreciation for service to community.

His late father, John Stafford Atwater, was a World War II fighter pilot and accomplished FBI agent who later became police chief of the Village of North Palm Beach. His mother was a teacher and continues to serve as a community volunteer. CFO Atwater’s commitment to public service first began in 1993 when he served as Vice Mayor of North Palm Beach.

In 2000, he began his legislative service as a

Chief of Staff, Dover was responsible for the Governor’s appointments, served as his spokesperson and represented his administra-tion before the Florida Legislature.

Dover’s other professional accomplish-ments include the Department of Business and Professional Regulation Director of the Division of Hotels and Restaurants, the first woman to serve as Chief of the Bureau of Fire Prevention, State Fire Marshall’s Office, and President/CEO of the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association.

As the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association President/CEO, Dover works to protect the diverse interests of Florida’s hospi-tality industry by representing the industry before the Florida Legislature and lobbying against unfair government regulation.

Dover serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Restaurant Association, National Restaurant Association Education Foundation, Council of State Restaurant Associations, International Society of Hotel Association Executives, VISIT FLORIDA, Florida Tourism Commission, Florida Tax Watch and the Florida Horse Park.

On opening day of the 2003 Legislative Session, Dover was diagnosed with breast cancer and courageously fought to beat the cancer. Dover, a native of Orlando, is married and has three children, two grandsons and a granddaughter. In her spare time, she enjoys outdoor activities including dressage riding and running.

Frank “Chip” Bone, Jr.Frank “Chip” Bone, Jr., CFBE, began his

career with the FRLA in 1997. Bone has a background in Florida’s tourism, food and beverage industry and holds a BA degree from the University of South Florida with majors in Psychology and Sociology.

In 1974, Bone opened his own res-taurant in Tempe, Arizona near Arizona State University. He oversaw the remodel-ing, creation, man-agement and opera-tion of this restaurant. The restaurant was successfully sold in 1983 and Bone returned to Florida.

In 1983, Bone went to work for Church Street Station in Orlando, Florida. There he rose through the ranks to assume the posi-tion of Vice President of Operations and Entertainment for the large entertainment and dining complex. Bone oversaw all aspects of the operation of this tourist attraction that eventually became Florida’s fourth largest tourist attraction grossing in excess of 35 mil-lion dollars annually.

In 1992, Bone moved to the hotel industry as Director of Food and Beverage Operations for the Buena Vista Palace Resort and Spa at Walt Disney World, a 1,000 room luxury hotel. As Director, Bone supervised the entire 21 million dollar food and beverage opera-

16 December 2011/January 2012

Frank “Chip” Bone

By JEFF ATWATER

Frla staFF Photos by Joel silver videograPhy

CABINET PROFILE


tion including banquets, fine dining, casual theme and all other aspects of hotel food and beverage.

In 1997, Bone joined the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association as its Education Vice President. In this role, Bone was responsible for overseeing the develop-ment, sales and implementation of various training programs involving food safety, welfare-to-work and school-to-career. In 1999, Bone’s responsibilities increased to include Membership Sales and Service for the association.

In 2001, Bone moved to the Association’s Educational Foundation where he was responsible for Florida’s ProStart School-To-Career Program. In this role, Bone oversaw the largest program of its kind in the coun-try. Recognizing the importance of improv-ing the public perception of foodservice careers as being rewarding as well as the importance of funding and implementing a quality foodservice training program geared to the needs of high school students, Bone worked with industry, the media, instructors and high schools, students and parents to accomplish these important goals.

In 2007, FRLA purchased Regulatory Compliance Services (RCS), a company engaged in alcohol and food safety train-ing on a statewide basis. RCS is the field training arm of FRLA utilizing nearly 20 trainers throughout Florida for the purpose of conducting much needed training for Florida’s hospitality industry. In his role as Vice President, Bone oversees its operation including over 1,100 full service clients while directing the admistration of training to thousands of Florida hospitality workers.

Bone is a native of Orlando and has one son. He enjoys surfing, cycling and most all outside activities.

Bob DeardenBob Dearden, Chief Financial Officer,

joined FRLA in 2002 with responsibility for the financial stewardship of the associa-tion, its educational foundation, its three political action committees and Regulatory Compliance Services, a for-profit company providing training in the service of alcohol and food safety.

Dearden has a 20 year career in accounting, beginning at Healthplan Southeast, a regional HMO, where he spent approximately five years and held the position of Controller. Subsequently, he entered State govern-ment and held numerous accounting/auditing posts including starting up an audit unit for the State of Florida’s Comptroller’s Office and he also served as Director of Audit for the Department of Children and Families.

Dearden currently serves as a member on Federal Reserve Advisory Council for travel

member of the Florida House of Representatives. Two years later, he ran for and was elected to the Florida Senate where he continued to serve the people of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. After chairing high profile Senate committees, CFO Atwater gained the unani-mous support of his fellow Senators in becoming Senate President and led the Senate from 2008 through 2010. In the Legislature, CFO Atwater dedicated his 10 years of service to improv-ing the lives of Floridians by lowering taxes, protecting key investments in early childhood education, raising school performance standards and establishing incentives that attract emerg-ing industries to Florida.

As a community banker of more than 25 years, his background provides him with unique insights in banking, insurance, finance, fis-cal responsibility and the burden that taxes and regulations place on small businesses and families. CFO Atwater’s belief that Florida can best prosper through its people rather than its government is the cornerstone of his platform to reduce the burden on Florida’s families by

spending every taxpayer dime in the most effi-cient and effective manner. He will:1. Reduce government spending, 2. Reduce regulatory burdens that chase

away capital, 3. Provide transparency and accountability

in spending, 4. Protect the state’s financial investments, 5. Fight fraud, abuse and waste in govern-

ment CFO Atwater received his Bachelor’s

degree in Finance and Masters of Business Administration from the University of Florida. CFO Atwater has been an active member of the community, serving on several advisory boards including United Way of Palm Beach County, Boy Scouts of America, Children’s Home Society of Broward County, 5-Star Magnet Program of Palm Beach Gardens High School and Roger Dean Stadium. Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors of the Northern Palm Beaches Chamber of Commerce.

CFO Atwater and his wife, Carole, have four children.


While AH&LA is your national hotel connection, state hotel associations provide a wealth of local resources and benefits. And, if you have 50 rooms or more in any of the 40 states with a partner state association (PSA), then you get an automatic dual membership with AH&LA

when you join at the state level. Getting involved with both organizations ensures you’re maximizing all the benefits available to you and your property.

PSA Benefits• State-specific advocacy and assistance with changing rules and regulations• Seminars, Webinars, and conferences in your backyard addressing imminent chal-

lenges and opportunities• Additional benefits vary by state, but may include legal assistance, promotional

opportunities, networking events, state-focused resources, and more

AH&LA Benefits• National advocacy, as well as personal attention and resources to help you adapt to

new legislation and regulations, such as the new ADA requirements• Nearly two dozen discount programs to boost your bottom line• Information, education, and answers to help you stay at the center of the industryWhen you put those together, you build ROI by arming yourself with the resources

to make smarter business decisions, build revenue-generating relationships with new col-leagues, and prevent costly mistakes, fines, and unfavorable media before it happens.

Netanya Stutz is a columnist with Lodging Magazine.– Reprinted by permission from Lodging Magazine, September 2011

By NETANyA STUTZ, LODGING MAGAZINE

PSA + AH&LA = ROIMaximize Your State Association And AH&LA Membership

MEMBER BENEFIT PROFILE

Bob Dearden


The incredible season of recovery continues for the tourist destinations of Northwest Florida, which recorded huge gains in August tourism revenue. A $30 million grant from BP secured in April by Governor Rick Scott for major marketing initiatives helped to drive the record gains.

“Our world-class seafood, beaches and state parks are among the many qualities that make Florida the place everyone wants to be, so it comes as no surprise to me that Northwest Florida experienced a record number of visitors in August,” said Governor Scott. “I commend the Northwest Florida Tourism Council for its efforts to put Northwest Florida back on the map after a tough tourism season last year.”

The $30 million grant has supported a number of new marketing pro-grams by the seven counties in the Northwest Florida Tourism Council (NWFTC), which were geared toward driving both summer and shoul-der-season travel.

“The numbers we are seeing for August tourism collections are a direct reflection of the marketing efforts that began in earnest this summer,” said NWFTC Chairperson Dawn Moliterno, the executive director of visit South Walton. “Governor Scott made this grant a priority, and it clearly is paying off as visitors have returned in record numbers to experi-ence our white sand and turquoise waters.”

Several counties had already recorded their highest bed-tax collections in history in July, with increases of as much as 85 percent over the previ-ous year. August collections were equally robust, with reports including:

An amazing 100 percent increase over August 2010 bed-tax collec-tions in Santa Rosa County, according to Santa Rosa County Tourist Development Executive Director Kate Wilkes, who said,” The BP funds allowed us to showcase Navarre Beach and the Blackwater River State Forest in a way that we would not have been able to afford, including out-reach into new markets”;

A 61.99 percent increase over August 2010 in Okaloosa County, according to Executive Director Mark Bellinger of the Okaloosa County Tourist Development Council & Emerald Coast Convention & visitors Bureau, who noted that year-to-date numbers were more than 30 percent ahead of last year;

A 63.88 percent increase over August 2010 in South Walton tax collec-tions, on the heels of July collections that were the largest in the county’s history, according to visit South Walton’s Moliterno. year-over-year col-lections were up more than 27 percent;

Northwest Florida Tourism Continues Rebound August Tourism Numbers Show Huge Increase

and tourism, which is comprised of tourism leaders from the Southeast Region of the US. In this role he briefs the Federal Reserve on current financial issues and matters affecting the hospitality industry. He also serves as a board of trustees for Florida Tax Watch.

A Floridian for over 37 years, Dearden attended Florida State University and received degrees in accounting and finance and went on to become a Certified Public Accountant.

Geoff LuebkemannGeoff Luebkemann joined the Florida Restaurant &

Lodging Association in 2006 after more than seven years with the Department of Business & Professional Regulation, Division of Hotels & Restaurants. Geoff held various titles there, completing the last five years as Division Director. During this time at DBPR, Geoff presided over an unprecedented business process re-engineering project, implementation of the first ever hand-held field technology for inspectors, and saw the program receive dozens of awards and national recog-nition for its effectiveness and efficiency. Prior to joining DBPR, Geoff worked with the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services for five years where he managed consumer protection programs.

His previous experience also includes 15 years in food and bever-age operations, from all hourly posi-tions to general management, in local independent businesses and a rapidly expanding multi-national chain. Geoff attended Florida State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Geoff’s daily activity at FRLA cen-ters on oversight of the Education & Training Department, or E&T. This 10 person unit is responsible for the sale of goods and services related to Florida food safety regulatory requirements.

E&T offers Food Manager certification examinations approximately 35 times every month throughout Florida, FRLA’S SafeStaff® brand manager exam preparation materials and employee food safety training materials.

Additionally, Geoff performs regulatory consulting, assisting hospitality businesses with food and beverage licensing, and navigating the enforcement process. Members have enjoyed significant benefits through these services, from expedited licensing that gets busi-nesses open faster, to understanding the most cost effec-tive ways to meet DBPR food safety requirements, and deal with disciplinary cases.

Having worked in and around restaurants for most of his adult life, Geoff enjoys helping solve members’ prob-lems and serving the industry.

Dan Murphy Dan Murphy is Vice President

of Corporate Relations and Membership for the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and has been involved in the hos-pitality industry for more than 20 years.

Mr. Murphy is a passionate sales and marketing professional and over the past 16 years with FRLA he has continually worked to increase membership and reten-tion, developed various programs Dan Murphy

Geoff Luebkemann

Record Numbers Show Impact of Governor Scott’s Effort to Secure BP Marketing Grant

18 December 2011/January 2012


A 34.5 percent increase over August 2010 in Bay County (home to Panama City Beach), according to Panama City Beach Convention & visitors Bureau President Dan Rowe, who said “Each month since April has been record-breaking, and August was no exception. The record number of visitors has allowed us to recapture some of the momentum we were experiencing leading up to the opening of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport”; and,

A 58.62 percent increase over August 2010 in Escambia County, according to Interim vice President of Tourism Terry R. Scruggs, who added, “This is a historical high for Escambia County, and a direct result of increased funding available for advertising. The outlook continues to be strong and very positive.”

Also, Tim Kerigan, Gulf County Tourism Development Council direc-tor, anticipates that 2011 will be the greatest revenue year on record for Gulf County, based on summer figures reported to-date. July collections alone were up 11 percent over July 2010, and up 13 percent from its previ-ous three-year average.

August numbers had yet to be reported in Franklin County, but according to County TDC Administrator Curt Blair, bed-tax collections were exceptionally strong this summer. July bed-tax collections were up 29.5 percent over the same month in 2010, and overall 2011 revenue reported to-date is up 8.7 percent over 2010. “Our fall season looks like it will be even stronger based on advanced reservations,” said Blair. “The strong recovery is due in no small way to the promotional dollars provided by BP.”

“As we continue to collaborate with the State of Florida and local communities, we are pleased by the results that have been announced today,” said Lamar McKay, President of BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization. “These most recent revenue numbers clearly demonstrate the dedication of the Northwest Florida Tourism Council to the economic success of the entire region. Their efforts – and the associated outcomes – should be a great source of pride to all involved.”

The NWFTC was created by seven tourism development councils (TDCs) many years ago for the purpose of marketing Northwest Florida through a regional partnership. The seven-county coalition reunited after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in an effort to overcome misperceptions about the status of Florida beaches. Its members include tourism develop-ment organizations in Bay, Escambia, Franklin, Gulf, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties.

and events to serve the industry and created a sponsor-ship program that is top in the nation.

His work requires in-depth industry knowledge and constant contact with restaurant and hotel operators, as well as industry suppliers like Heartland Payment Systems, Coca-Cola, American Express and many others. He is involved with national industry organiza-tions including the National Restaurant Association, American Hotel and Lodging Association and the Council of State Restaurant Associations.

Prior to working with the FRLA Mr. Murphy was a hospitality education trainer for the state of Florida. Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University and currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida where he enjoys hunting and fishing with his family

Richard TurnerRichard Turner joined the Florida Restaurant and

Lodging Association as General Counsel and Vice-President of Government Relations in September of 2002.

Richard has been a member of The Florida Bar for 25 years and enjoyed a varied career including 17 years in state government prior to joining the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Working for state govern-ment, he was Senior Attorney for the State Treasurer/Insurance Commissioner, Deputy Director of Law Enforcement for the State Agriculture Commissioner, and finally, Director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (ABT).

Richard’s primary focus at the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is to protect the diverse interests of Florida’s restaurateurs and public lodging establishments by lob-bying the legislature against unfair regulation, taxation and government intrusion.

While there is no “typical day” at FRLA, there are some certainties in the Government Relations Section. You can count on several calls from the industry asking for help with regulatory issues ranging from taxes to alcoholic beverages. There will be questions of law dealing with anything from labor and employment matters to swim-ming pools. There will be folks who express their feelings that there are too many laws, rules and regulations. Then there are folks who have a problem and express the thought that “there ought to be a law.”

Some of the highlights over the years include: • The repeal of the alcoholic beverage surcharge

(the only state to do so), saving the industry hun-dreds of millions of dollars;

• The preemption by the state prohibiting local governments banning toys or restricting market-ing by food service establishments;

• Defeat of mandates involving menu labeling; • Continuing the fight to reform worker’s compen-

sation; • Fighting frivolous lawsuits and seeking tort

reform; • Increasing the threshold and requirements for

constitutional initiatives;• Continuing reforms in Unemployment compen-

sation; • Preventing expansion of use relating to tourist

development taxes; • Continued funding for the Hospitality Education

Program and Visit Florida.


Visitors flocked by the thousands to the magnificent beaches on Florida’s Panhandle for the official start of the 2011 summer tourism season.

Richard Turner


Bruce CraulLegendary Hospitality, Inc.2012 Chair, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association

Born in 1953, in Southampton, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, Bruce considers himself as a classic baby-boomer, and he suspects that

he falls into the stereotype that the show “Leave it Beaver” portrayed. His Dad worked hard as a traveling sales-man, gone three or four nights a week, “on the road”. Bruce didn’t think he worked that hard as he went with him sometimes, and when asked, “What does your Dad do?” his standard

answer was that he just drives around and talks to people all day long. This line came back to haunt him later in life since his children, when asked, what their Dad did, they said, “He just walks around and talks to people.”

His Mother was what we call today, a “stay-at-home mom.” Of course in

the fifties and sixties that is what most Moms did. His Mother made breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, and the family sat down at the table and ate together. Looking back, Bruce thinks that having “a stay-at-home mom” can really spoil you, which probably explains that to this day his definition of camping is one floor below the concierge level!

All kidding aside, he did like to camp, and as a young man he participated in scouting for over ten years. Scouting taught him a lot. Besides standing over the stove and watching his mother cook, he developed many of his early cooking skills from scouts. Bruce notes, “I think that the reason that I ended up cooking all of the time was because I couldn’t eat anyone else’s food.” Besides cooking and all of the other merit badge require-ments to become an eagle scout, Bruce learned basic leadership skills in Scouts: first as an Assistant Patrol Leader, then a Patrol Leader, and then as a Senior Patrol Leader. For the reader that has not been exposed to scouting, a Senior Patrol Leader in a large troop as his was, directed and guided ten patrol leaders, a quartermaster, an assistant senior patrol leader and others, which in his troop was almost a hundred kids. At least every three months, all year long, even in the winter, they would go to camporees, and without adult leadership, compete against other troops in many differ-ent types of skills. Bruce attributes this leadership training, as an early teen, to giving him a foundation to build his management style to what it is today.

He was not involved in sports outside of “phys-ed” class. He was not inter-ested. Scouting took up a lot of his free time, as did playing the trumpet in the school band for seven years. As soon as

he could, Bruce got to work. As a kid, all he wanted to do was make money. So he started: first the paper route, then cutting lawns and doing other forms of landscape maintenance, and then work-ing in a corner grocery where he worked the back meat counter, learning how to cut meat and slice deli meats for custom-ers. He loved learning how to cut meat. At the end of three years, he could have actually made this a career as one of his friends did, who by the way is still a meat cutter, but he wanted to do differ-ent things.

An average student in high school with average SAT’s, he enrolled in Bucks County Community College. Bruce asked his Father what he should take and he recommended Business Administration. Upon enrollment, he also chose an elective: Introduction to Hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Management. He thought it looked like it would be interesting and fun and per-haps an easy five credits since everything else he had to take looked pretty tough.

On the first day of his Introductory to Hotel, Motel, and Restaurant Management course, Professor Herbert K. Witzky, stated that the demand for professional hotel, motel and restaurant managers would be at least ten times the supply for the rest of our lives. Bruce thought to himself, “WOW.” and left that class to change his major to Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Management. Bruce has not regretted that decision once since he made that decision in the fall of 1970.

Between his freshman and sophomore year, his parents, along with his two sisters, toured the country by car. They saw a lot of the country and also visited a lot of university towns because his

Bruce with wife Debbie.

ProFiLe



The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is pleased to announce Bruce Craul, COO with Legendary Hospitality, Inc., is the 2012 Chairman of the Board. Bruce’s service to the Association includes: 2007 Interim Destin Chapter President, 2008 Destin Chapter Representative, 2009 Executive Committee Member and Northwest Florida Chapter Representative, 2010 Secretary-Treasurer, Executive Committee and Northwest Florida Chapter Representative, 2011 Chairman-Elect Officer, Executive Committee.


parents thought that it would be a good idea for him to see where the senior colleges were that he was considering transferring to after he received his Associates Degree. They visited Cornell in Ithaca, New york, Penn State in State College, PA, Michigan State, University of Denver, and University of Nevada in Las vegas. On a sepa-rate trip, Bruce visited Florida State University and Florida International University (FIU) in Miami. After that visit, Bruce decided to attend FIU because it was in, at the time, the country’s largest hotel and motel city where he thought he could put theory into practice.

Age nineteen, a move to Miami, and the requirement to work full-time while taking a full load at school, caused Bruce to think that when he graduated working 60 hours a week would be a cake walk. Bruce loved the school, and loved his job as a desk clerk at a “parent company” Holiday Inn at the Miami International Airport. (The Holiday Inn is still open, unlike most Holiday Inns whose license is up after twenty five years.) According to Bruce, it was a great property to learn all of the basics

from night audit to housekeeping and Food and Beverage.

After graduating with his Bachelor’s Degree from FIU, and after interviewing with many different companies, Bruce chose to stay with Holiday Inns. As an unassigned Innkeeper for the next year, he worked as an Innkeeper or Assistant Innkeeper in Cocoa Beach, Sarasota, and Miami Beach (three locations), finally accepting a permanent position as Assistant Innkeeper (Food and Beverage Director) at the country’s largest Holiday Inn Beach Resort in Cocoa Beach. It was an exciting time to be on the Space Coast. It was during the days of Apollo, so he had the good fortune to meet many of the astronauts and many of the news anchors of the day. It was during this time Bruce learned that even though you are just one person with a huge company, you can still be noticed for your hard work and achievements.

The Innkeeper at the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach, Peter venHousen, was a hard driver that wanted results. Bruce adopted many of his management traits and through his leader-

ship they put the spotlight on the Holiday Inn Cocoa Beach due to its performance. Almost all of the key senior executives at the corporate office in Memphis came down to the property to vacation so this added to the property’s exposure to Holiday Inn’s senior management. In 1976, he was awarded Food and Beverage (Assistant Innkeeper) of the year for Holiday Inn’s Worldwide at the ripe old age of 23.

After receiving that award, Bruce moved to Holiday Inn World Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. The Innkeeper and District Staff in Memphis were charged with the responsibility of renovating the home-office corporate hotel to be the best low-rise hotel in the system. With a big budget, and team members from any of corporate hotels in the world, these were excit-ing times for Bruce. They built the team and the hotel, and it was the best. He was there for twenty eight months and developed some of the best friendships of his life.

With that mission complete, it was time to be an Innkeeper, since ironically that is what he set out to do when he was in college. Bruce recalls telling the District Director in Miami that he wanted to skip food and beverage and just stay on the room side and become an Innkeeper. His District Director’s response was that to become an Innkeeper you had to be food and beverage director first. At the time he had no idea that he was going to like Food and Beverage and even develop a passion for it, one that remains to this day.

After being promoted out of Memphis to a downtown high-rise hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Bruce and his family lived down-town in the high-rise hotel, his place of employ-ment. In those days, it was mandatory that all Innkeepers lived on the property. Although the “full maintenance” was great for the fam-ily budget, Bruce didn’t like riding the elevator to work. So when Bruce received a call from Mike Harrell, a Memphis contact, he was thrilled. Mike had been the COO of a large franchise group from Pittsburgh called Servico. While Bruce was in Memphis, Mike wanted to hire him to open the Club Élan at the Hotel Warwick in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. Bruce turned that job down, telling him that it was too close to home and to call him when he purchased or built some hotels. Mike had recently purchased five Holiday Inns, one of which was in Gadsden, Alabama, and wanted Bruce join the organization as Director of Operations. When Bruce asked him where he would live, he was told that Pensacola would be

“I really do enjoy serving as much as I do. The most important people to me everyday are the ones standing in front of me. … I am who I am because of my faith and the support of my wife and family.”


his new home if he took the job. He packed up his wife and son, and traveled down to look at the city. Bruce was pleased to visit Pensacola; he had missed Florida since he moved and was hoping that he could return some time.

The position looked great, and was appeal-ing because a Hotel Owner Operator was fill-ing hotel rooms because he had great food and beverage concepts. Bruce’s background, experi-ence and timing was perfect since Holiday Inn corporate was trying to remodel every Holiday Inn Restaurant into a “Steak and Ale” concept called Pipers. This initiative was restricting the creativity of anyone with food and beverage experience which Bruce wasn’t that interested in. So, he loaded up the van and moved to Gulf Breeze, Florida, the bedroom community of Pensacola, and bought his first house with his profit-sharing money made through seven years with Holiday Inns.

His new employer, vista Host, was perfectly positioned for growth. They purchased and or managed tired Holiday Inns, renovated them, developed a food and beverage concept, hired a Director of Sales, and became the most popular hotel in town, any town, to the locals, the road warriors and group business from wherever. They did this, time after time after time. Soon, together with their sister company that owned and operated high energy food and beverage concepts, they became the largest “liquor by the drink” company in the United States. During Bruce’s first seven years with vista they grew to 34 hotels.

Unfortunately, the age of baby-boomers going out early for happy hour and then staying out late was doomed. The boomers got married and had kids, the drinking age was changing to twenty one, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving and similar organizations successfully increased awareness about drinking and driving.

While this transition was in progress Bruce hooked up with a man that he says he will admire forever, Bob Snow. Bob started in Pensacola right out of the Navy, and opened Seville Quarter. It was an entertainment com-plex consisting of numerous restaurants and bars all under one roof, most notably: Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium. Bob and Bruce, together, co-founded the Florida Dining and Entertainment Association along with other restaurateurs from South Florida. Because their businesses were threatened, the main focus of the Association was to retain the drinking age at eighteen. In fact, Bruce still believes “…if you are old enough to lay down your life for your

country then you should be old enough to have a beer….” The Association was successful in this effort until the federal government required all states to raise the legal drinking age to twenty-one, or lose federal transportation dollars. It was his experience with the Florida Dining and Entertainment Association that taught him that one person or a small group of concerned citi-zens can make a difference.

Bob Snow and Bruce developed a very good working relationship through the Association’s work and decided to work together profession-ally. Bob asked Bruce to be his Director of Operations for his company which included both the Seville Quarter Operation in Pensacola and Orlando’s Church Street Station. Bruce was thrilled to accept the position, but the CEO of vista Host asked Bruce to meet with him and promoted him to vice President of Development for vista Host with a physical move to Houston. The opportunity to develop hotels in new markets appealed to him since he had only limited exposure to the development process.

Bruce often looks back on that decision and wonders what would have happened if he fol-lowed through with Bob Snow, since a few years later he sold his entire company and developed a similar concept in downtown Las vegas which ultimately was not successful.

The move to Houston was a turning point in his career and personal life. Although he was headquartered in Houston, most of his time was spent out of town where they had differ-ent stages of hotel development going on. Five of the larger full-service hotel projects were in California, so for the nine months that he lived in Houston, his work weeks were between

northern and southern California. His wife had thought that she would see more of him with the move, but as it ended up she saw even less of him. Recognizing that he had all the devel-opment that he needed under his belt, Bruce and his family moved back to Gulf Breeze and partnered with a local developer to build a Festival Market place, a boardwalk on the water on Pensacola Beach, anchored by a two-story 10,000 square foot restaurant with multiple decks and bars. It was his dream restaurant where he applied all of the concepts that he had learned from his college restaurant professor, Mike Hurst. While Jubilee was being built, they opened a high-energy bar that became the Place in Pensacola called Rio and took on three hotel management contracts. Bruce’s career as President of five “sub S” corporations was well on its way.

Bruce has been known to say from time to time, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell him you have a plan.” His partner, whose love for gambling went beyond his new development risk taking, took him down. Unbeknownst to Bruce, he backed football pools, and the State Attorney was evidently not one of his players, and he was indicted. At the same time, Bruce was divorced, and distanced himself from his partner. He did not want to have any “guilt by association”. Bruce sold his business interests to his ex-partner’s family and went back with vista Host as Director of Operations.

vista Host had not grown much while Bruce was gone. While he was busy with his company, vista was at a standstill, particularly in the area of technology. The CEO and the senior level executives had not yet jumped on the PC band-wagon. While Bruce was building his company he had become a PC junky and came back to vista with some new skills which put vista Host back into the growth mode.

During Bruce’s transition from his own company back to vista Host, he was blessed by meeting his wife, Debbie, of twenty one years. When they met, her two children and his two children were seven, six, five and four years old. At church they called them the “Brady Bunch.” The “ours” since they met have always been long-hair daschunds, and Bruce is proud to say that all of the kids get along, and sometimes not, just like all families. Debbie and Bruce have both said they wish they had met ten years earlier.

Bruce notes “you know that you are getting old when this is your third recession.” During the second recession of his lifetime, there were


many hospitality assets that banks and other lenders were taking back from the owner developers.

At vista Host they met the new demand with a new division, the Asset Services Division. Once again, a relationship that he built directed his attention to a town east of Gulf Breeze – Destin, Florida. It was the late-eighties and there was one resort in particular that brought their Asset Services talent to Destin. Commuting to Destin, a forty-minute drive, at that time, became very appealing through the initial takeover man-agement process of TOPS’L Beach and Racquet Club. It became so appealing that he cut a deal with the owners of TOPS’L and once again, left vista Host.

TOPS’L is where he expanded his education in the hospitality business to a new, but growing side of the business, vacation Rental Management. This was the genesis of a business where Bruce saw an opportunity to make condomini-ums more like hotels and where hotels would start becoming more like condominiums. While Bruce was managing TOPS’L, a fifty five acre Top 100 Tennis Resort in North America, TOPS’L’s neigh-bor, Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort was trying to hang on in those tough economic times. This 2600 acre resort that had almost 3,000 units at the time was still only about 50% developed as was TOPS’L. Little did Bruce know that one day in the future that the CEO, President, Owner, Developer, and visionary of Sandestin, Peter Bos, would later become his CEO and Bruce his COO.

After just over two years at TOPS’L the day came when the developers, who Bruce was work-ing for, had to give back the resort to the lender, an insurance com-pany from Louisiana. At that time, a Louisiana insurance company, by statute could not have more that 50% of its assets out of state. This was, evidently, some fine print that the insurance company and the developers failed to read, or per-haps even ignored. On his way out of the gate of the Resort, Bruce was

offered a new opportunity by one of the Abbott principals, an “old” Holiday Inn contact, Jim Steiner. That next week Bruce started his new vacation Rental Management Career as the Director of Operations of Abbott Resorts.

Abbott Resorts was destined to become one of the largest vacation rental management companies in the country. The four founders, including Jim Steiner, were in the process of replacing themselves since their personal investments in real estate kept them very busy without having to dedicate time to the day-to-day operations and development of the company that they founded. His availability was timed perfectly. The founders’ goal

was to take the company public in five years. It took seven. Hurricane Opal interrupted this process in 1995, and it took them two years to rebuild. Eventually Abbott Resorts became a major part in the IPO roll up called Resort Quest. To this day, Resort Quest is one of the largest vacation rental manage-ment companies in the country and locally, in Destin, it is owned by Wyndham vacation Resorts.

Uncertain of the future after Abbott, Bruce ventured into the financial services business. After studying, testing and earning all of the licenses that he needed to assist people in becoming financially independent and debt-free, Bruce decided this business was not his passion, nor did it utilize his 29 years of hospitality experience. About that time, as fate would have it, Bruce learned that Peter Bos’s “number two man” had moved

Bruce with the family daschunds.


Tourism Day 2012

WHO: You and Florida Legislators WHAT: Tourism Day is a day for hospitality professionals to visit with their elected officials. Meetings with legislators give you an opportunity to express your opinion on the issues that impact your business. WHEN: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 *** 7:30AM—8:00PM WHERE: Tallahassee, Florida

For more information regarding Tourism Day 2012, please visit www.frla.org or contact Christina Jones at [email protected] or Jason Reynolds at [email protected].

on, so Bruce called Bos, and they discussed Bruce’s experience and credentials. During an after-hours meeting in his office Bos agreed to hire Bruce, and he started as vice President of Operations.

That was eleven years ago. Since then, they have worked together with some great teams of people developing, designing, building and running, a gated community, a golf course and club, two marinas, one of the world’s largest dry stor-age marinas, Destin Commons, Destin’s nicest high end festival shopping center, a marine division, warehouse storage both mini and large commercial, luxury apart-ments, Destin’s finest high end office park, HarborWalk village, a festival shopping center on the Harbor, three Charter fishing boats, two party boats and one exclusive executive Charter boat and the Emerald Grande, the most luxurious full-service vacation con-dominium east of New Orleans, south of Atlanta and north of Tampa, and Bruce can’t think of any property nicer outside of those parameters.

Bruce’s job is not finished. They still have land to develop. One thing is for sure though; everyone knows that they never do anything half-way. According to Bruce, Peter Bos says, “we guild the lily; we simo-nize the elephant; and we set the standard.” For Bruce “it’s not work when every day you can’t wait to get up and go to serve the guests, the owners and the partners who have come to expect the very best.”

Q&A With Bruce CraulWhat led you to join FRLA and how have you benefitted from your involvement?

What led me is the tenacity of a FRLA Regional Director, Lynne Hernandez, but I was ripe for the picking, because I know that when it comes to keeping government out of your business it takes rep-resentation and the strength is in numbers. FRLA has 10,000 mem-bers so there is the strength, but also it takes great leadership and a staff that keeps their eye on what comes up new every day. Just like City and County politics, if you miss a meeting or an agenda item it can cost your business big. So knowing that someone is watching all the time gives me comfort.

What do you believe to be FRLA’s greatest value for our industry?

It’s not just one thing. The mis-sion of the FRLA is to Educate, Promote, and Protect, not neces-sarily in that order. One year, as in last year for example; to protect, followed by promote were probably the most important of the three, at least if you were in the Panhandle of Florida. That said though we must educate our future leaders and workers as we will continue to be the largest industry in Florida,

For more information, visit us online or call us today!

tbbathandbody.com208 Passaic Ave, Fairfield, NJ 07004

800-541-6775

Fresh. exotic. tantalizing.

The Tommy Bahama Travelers Collection is an irresistible line of personal care amenities.

Bruce Craul with Peter Bos.


at least in all of our lifetimes. you cannot do these three things alone without help from your association.

Why do you think non-members should join FRLA?

By sitting on the sidelines and thinking that someone else is going to “fix” everything without you is irresponsible. Furthermore, in my opinion you lose your right to complain about something that you do not think is important enough to get involved in. And, the bonus is that if you don’t recover the cost of your dues and expenses by at least three times the first year, then you are not involved enough. So you can’t just sign up you have to get engaged.

What would you most like to accomplish in your year as Chairman?

I want to invigorate the membership. I want them to leave a board meeting or function and say to themselves and others that they can’t wait for the next board meeting or event. I would really like to teach or show how important every single person is to the team. I want them to know the power of one.

What is your business philosophy?Hard work, carving out time to think, but

most importantly I believe that we are all ser-vants. Our industry is an industry of serving, and as strange as it may sound and I suspect many of my peers would not like to be called servants, I think that that is what our philoso-phy should be. We should serve our customers, our investors and owners, our employees and our families. If we do this with commitment and passion, we will all be more successful.

What do you most enjoy about the hospitality business?

It will sound coy after reading the previous question, but serving others is what I enjoy the most. I tell a story when I tell others how much I enjoy this business, because you know this business is all I have done for the last forty years. Here is the story or example; When you have people over to your home for cocktails, dinner and dessert and everything went just perfect, do you remember how you felt when

the last guest went out the door and you turned to your spouse and said, wow, that was a great night wasn’t it? In this business we get that feel-ing everyday! What business can you get that rush every single day?

What advice would you offer those seeking to get into this business?

First, I would say that it is harder than you think. It may be one of the hardest businesses there is. I took a phrase from a man that I use to work for who really sums up part of our busi-ness, the restaurant side.

He said: “What business do you bring a raw product in through the back door, manufacture it by semi skilled labor, serve it through people making half of the minimum wage, and the customer consumes the product before they pay for it?”

I also tell people that our business is one that you work holidays, nights and weekends, so it you want any of those off, this business is not for you. I have had off three of the last forty Christmas Days. Not many want to make that kind of commitment to their profession.

They need to look beyond the glamour of the hotel or restaurant and understand more of the nuts and bolts of execution. My advice to someone considering this business is go and get a job in the business, you will soon find out if it is for you or not.

As for those that want to own a business in this industry, I suggest they also do what I said in my last sentence, get a job in the business first to see if you “get it.”

What do you predict will be the biggest issue affecting the industry in 2012?

The biggest issue is trying to figure out how to convince the traveling and dining out public that even when economic times are not where they should be, that you still must take time to smell the roses.

Take some long weekends, go out to eat more often, as it cost just as much to eat at home these days considering the price points that much of our industry has pro-moted here in the last few years.

Turn off the Smart phones and have some face time with friends and family. Getting people to do this is our biggest issue. Now that said, protecting our busi-nesses so that this can be our biggest issue will also be part of the issue.

What do you see as FRLA’s role in affecting that issue?

Working with visit Florida to give people goose bumps about what we offer and con-vincing them to go for it. Keeping one eye

on heads in beds and buts in chairs while keep-ing the other eye on the House and Senate.

The Destin Seafood Festival was fantastic this year! As Co-Chair of next year’s Destin Seafood Festival (Oct. 5 – 7, 2012), FR&L readers are wondering how you will top this year’s incredible event?

This was the first year of an old tradition. The Chamber of Commerce ran the festival for decades. The Destin Charter Boat Association together with the FRLA brought the festival back to its roots. We made that the plan, and we executed the plan. Over fifty thousand people came out and said by being there that they liked the plan. Topping the event is the easy part. This year was the hard part. Expanding the fes-tival even further to one mile versus this year’s ¾ of a mile, and continuing to focus on great food and entertainment will bring the people. This is what our business and industry do every day, so directing our attention to what we do every day to a major event is our outreach to the masses. Can’t wait until next year. We are plan-ning it already.

What would you most like people to know about you?

I am sincere. I really do enjoy serving as much as I said I do. The most important people to me everyday are the ones standing in front of me. And, finally, I am who I am because of my faith and the support of my wife and family.

“Even when economic times are not where they should be, you still must take time to smell the roses.”


Seasonality makes us take a fresher approach with our food and wine. Consequently, with the winter just around the corner, fuller bodied white and red wines are the natural choice. The pres-

ence of white truff les, seasonal legumes, game meat and rich sauces inclines one to look for wines with similar weight. Rich unoaked white wines such as Rielsing from Austria or Pfalz as well as the exotic and perfumed Gewurztraminer from Alsace can be a great suggestion for white wine lovers.

Certainly, if one enjoys those buttery and soft flavors derived from oak, viogniers and Marsanne &Roussane blends from the Rhone valley and California will be one’s palatte pleaser. For full experience, do not miss Café Boulud’s Executive Chef Jim Leiken’s to die for Pan-Seared Diver Scallops!

For the red wine fans, the fruit-driven and velvety Syrah from the U.S. or the Rhone valley as well as the muscular and rich Malbec from Argentina would work very well. If one is still wondering what to pair with the just-roasted and Brussels sprouts, Grenache blends from the famous town of Châteauneuf-du-Pape will be an excellent match. Of course, let us not forget the bold Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends from Bordeaux or Napa valley.

White truffles on your table? The intense and earthy Barolo or Barbaresco from Peidmont would be the best complement.

Winter and desserts often equal comfort and pleasure. Enhance that experience with some sweet libations? Hungarian Tokaj or Quarts du Chaume from the Loire valley would make that Apple Brown Betty even more delicious! Exotic Madeira and vinsanto from Santorini or Italy are the to-go pairing with Café Boulud’s Pastry Chef Arnaud Chavigny’s Gianduja Chocolate Palet with Sweet Potato Sorbet.

Chocolate in your mind? Banyuls from the Southern France or Port from the Douro region will definitely keep you happy and warm in the cooler months.

Still haven’t found your winter wine? Champagne is great with every season! With the holidays approaching, it is a must for everyone’s table. Perhaps explore other sparkling wines: Spanish Cava or California Bubbly would com-plete the festivity of every occasion.

The rhythm of the seasons are one of Chef Daniel Boulud’s inspirations. Working with him and his talented chefs convinces me even more

Wines for the SeasonBy MARIyA KOvACHEvA

W ine t iPs

to apply that natural philosophy in my food and wine pairing suggestions at Café Boulud.

Enjoy, explore and elevate your palate with the wonderful food and wine gifts of the winter! Cheers!

Mariya Kovacheva is the Sommelier for Café Boulud in Palm Beach.


secr ets oF sUcce ss

Can you tell FR&L Readers the History of Bud and Alley’s?

In the fall of 1985 I was 24 years old and I happened to be working as a server at a French Restaurant in Destin called Les Saisons. The Future developer of Seaside, Robert Davis used to eat there. I had become close friends with the Maître d, Scott Witcoski through work and our mutual love of surf-

ing. Robert had inquired with Scott about an opportunity to open a restaurant in an existing restaurant in Seaside (the previous tenants left at the end of the previous season).

Scott and I were headed to Panama City for a day of surfing when Scott mentioned he would like to stop and look at the building Robert had told him about. Because the surf was so good I did not want to stop. The thought never occurred to me Scott would be asking me to be his future partner in an hour. Scott was driving and he talked me into stopping anyway.

Robert shared his vision of Seaside with us and gave us a tour of the restaurant (basically a turn key operation with the tables set and every-thing ready to go). After Robert left us, Scott and I had a few moments to look out over the Gulf through the back porch window and he asked me if I wanted to open a restaurant with him. It was such a beautiful place and being so impressed Robert’s vision for his future town gave me little pause. Twenty-four hours later I quit college (already enrolled in my last semes-ter) and tossed my bachelors degree in business management and marketing to the side to open a restaurant with Scott. We named it Bud & Alley’s after Robert’s dog, “Bud” and Scott’s cat

“Alley.” We wanted to create a restaurant that had great food that was unpretentious and fun. Our motto still is and was from the start: Good Food, Good People & Good Times.

Scott was the founding chef and president, and I ran the front of the house in the vP posi-tion of our newly formed corporation. We were great friends and business partners for 20 years as Bud & Alley’s grew and matured along with Seaside. We kept our overhead low and grew in very small steps. Because we were so young we had few financial needs and it did not matter to us that we were not making a lot of money in the early years. We were just happy owning our own business and playing an active role in the town making of Seaside. We closed the restau-rant on Tuesdays so we could do laundry and have a day off, and we closed for the month of January so we could take a surf trip every year. We called it our winter “board” meeting. If the waves came up, we would surf before work and between shifts behind the restaurant.

After 20 years Scott wanted to retire to his love of surfing, fishing, photography and art. I happily bought him out five years ago and opened two more successful restaurants in Seaside since then. I was so lucky to have an enduring and mostly positive relationship with Scott and fortunate to grow a business with such a talented person.

We quickly learned that being in Seaside had its benefits. No one could have predicted the success of Seaside. Being on the ground floor of a development that changed the way towns are designed and sparked the New Urbanism move-ment was an amazing experience. Also, getting to play an active role in town building, creating tradition and being the anchor restaurant in town was incredible. By 1988 national maga-

Interview with DAvE RAUSCHKOLB

By SUSIE MCKINLEy, EDITOR, FR&L MAGAZINE

zines were covering Seaside and we were right in the middle of it all. National magazine and catalog photo shoots in the winter kept us alive, and there were always enthusiastic homeowners, architects and builders to feed. We were only busy in the summer for three months but with so few restaurants we were packed all summer long. In 1994, Hollywood came to town for six months to film the Truman Show with Jim Carrey. I still get residual checks from my five seconds of fame on the big screen.

In the past 25 years I have had the honor of holding a Seaside homeowner’s baby in my arms and 16 years later teaching him or her finer points of running the door as a hostess or bussing a table at Bud & Alley’s. I finally got married 3 years ago and my wife, Carol, and I have a 2-year-old daughter. Now I’m 50 with the first 25 years behind me. I hope I am still around in 16 years to do the same with my own child.

Bud and Alley’s has been a destination for folks visiting 30-A for how many years?

Twenty five years

Describe your menu concept.We have not wavered too much from our

original concept over the years. The food and menu celebrates the authentic food of our south-ern coastal region and the bounty of the Gulf


of Mexico. Simplicity is the key, keeping the vegetables and accompanying items as close to their natural state as possible. We purchase our regional seafood exclusively from the pristine waters of Florida’s Eastern Gulf, predominately Apalachicola and Destin. We work closely with nearby farmers and growers to obtain the finest locally available vegetables.

How do you keep your menu fresh and interesting to returning guests?

We change the menu seasonally and have several chalkboard items that change daily. The grilled and whole fish change according to what is locally available every day. We use vegetables

and fruits in the peak of their season. Since the beginning, many of our customers eat more than one meal at Bud & Alley’s while in town.

What is your most popular dish?Sorry, there’s more than one: Our grilled

whole fish, the Seaside Shrimp and our sweet potato fries

What is your most popular cocktail?I’d have to say our top shelf Margarita or

“Mo”gartita to highlight our head bartender, Mo Moseley. Mo has been with us for 10 years and his version is famous.

Have you seen the tastes of your guests change over the years?

yes, of course. The “American food move-ment” that began with Chef Alice Waters in California began a culinary revolution that changed the way we look at food. As a result, the customers’ tastes have become much more refined since the late 70’s and early 80’s. It was amazing to participate in bringing that new food philosophy to our area. When we first opened we had the opportunity and honor of being culinary pioneers along scenic 30A and in this part of Florida. Chef Frank Stitt of Highlands Bar and Grill and Chef Chris Hastings of Hot & Hot Fish Club, both located in Birmingham, were huge inspirations to us in the early days. Also, a large portion of our

customers come from Birmingham, so we were eager to follow the inspiration of these talented regional chefs and create cuisine that best repre-sent and celebrate our own region.

budandalleys.com is a very descriptive web page! A viewer really gets a feel for Bud and Alley’s when looking at it. Do you think it is a big asset to your business? If so,why?

yes, of course: Our website was designed to tell a visual story of what Bud & Alley’s is all about. The photos really tell it all. We are in one of the best locations for any restaurant in Florida and the idea was to attract new people with beautiful photography. The live 360-degree webcam is a huge draw as well. Also, the website had to be simple and easy to navigate. I credit Cyber Sytes in Panama City with doing an amazing job. The site has won a few ADDy awards for its design. http://www.cysy.com/

In recent years, Bud and Alley’s has expanded its concept to the “Taco Bar” and the “Pizza Bar” all within walking distance. Are you pleased with that business model?

Absolutely, The Taco Bar already was a retail space that backed up to our auxiliary kitchen so it was a “no-brainer” to open. We knocked a hole in the wall and opened it in 8 days. The

This fall, FRLA was fortunate to spend some time with Dave Rauschkolb, the owner of Bud and Alley’s Restaurant, on 30-A in Seaside, Florida.


concept is an authentic border taqueria using freshest ingredients. No yellow cheese or hard taco shells allowed like in the Americanized version of Mexican. I wanted to duplicate the real experience you might feel at a real border taqueria. I travelled to San Diego and ate at over 40 taquerias along the border areas and learned what real Mexican food is all about. It seats about 50 and has a fun, funky atmosphere.

The Pizza Bar again, is all about authentic-ity. Located about 50 yards from Bud & Alley’s right on the beach, The Pizza Bar is an authentic wood-fired, thin crust pizza restaurant with a broad selection of antipasti, salads and pastas. My wife, Carol and I travelled to Rome, Naples and a nearby island called Ischia to research every aspect of thin crust pizza and the philosophy of leisurely Italian dining. Carol did the interior design which is amazing. There is an outdoor terrace on the Gulf that is so comfortable and inviting and people just don’t want to leave. Leah Mason, our talented gardener and dear friend of 25 years, has duplicated exactly the feel of a restaurant in Ischia we visited. Lemon and fig trees and beautiful flowering potted plants and gardens surround the restaurant. My friend Leo Casas was a very important consultant on both new restaurant projects. Leo is the former Town Architect of Seaside and is originally from San Diego. Leo also went to college and later taught architecture in Rome. He and his wife Tara were our “tour guides” on both trips.

The “Tarpon Club” is one of the best beach bars in Florida. Tell our readers about the “Tarpon Club” concept.

Well, the name is derived from my former partner, Scott’s love of fishing for tarpon. The open-air roof-deck is an elevated stage for the most amazing panoramic views of the Seaside beach, Gulf and the center of the Town of Seaside. It is covered with a canvas roof and seats 90 guests that surround the central bar facing the Gulf. We expanded the roof-deck this spring to add 45 more seats in a stepped down roof dining area that is open to the sky. The “sky deck” is now the most popular place to eat at Bud & Alley’s.

Back in 1994, when we originally build the roof-deck I wanted to create a sunset tradition much like they do in Key West with the shoot-ing of the cannon. I searched all over Florida and found an 1888 steam train bell in a thrift shop in Kissimmee. For the past 15 years, townspeople and tourists gather at sunset on the roof-deck for the ringing of the sunset bell. Whoever predicts on a chalkboard the exact time the sun will set wins a free drink. The Tarpon Club offers the perfect setting to dine under the stars, and later it’s a festive atmo-sphere and a great spot to watch the moon rise over the Gulf. The Tarpon Club is also a popu-lar after-party gathering spot for special events and weddings.

Do you host a lot of special events and weddings?

yes. The spring and fall are the most popular times of the year for weddings at Bud & Alley’s. The weather is fantastic and the added business really fills in what used to be more of a shoulder season. We do weddings in the summer, but only small ones because we are already so busy.

How do you drive “traffic” to your restaurant for special events?

Being in Seaside has its benefits, and special events and weddings are no exception. Pretty much the traffic comes to us; we don’t have to do any wedding advertising. We held some of the first weddings in any restaurant in the area in the early years. Later, the Seaside Cottage Rental Agency picked up and started doing them as well. It worked out perfectly because I sent them the weddings I could not do, and they sent me the ones they could not do. We supported each other and promoted each other and still do today. As an added bonus, The Sky Deck is the preferred gathering spot for nearly every wedding in town. Outside of Seaside, many other wedding companies have picked up steam as well. A thriving wedding business has blossomed along the Scenic 30-A corridor. There is no lack of romance in an area as beau-tiful as this.

What is the most important thing you emphasize with staff about your customers?

I encourage my staff to be positive and con-fident in their abilities and be themselves when interacting with guests. If my staff is not having fun, then my customers won’t either. I’ve never liked being served by robots. I absolutely loved being a server, and I try to find people who love what they do and it shows. That also applies to creating a positive chemistry as a team in the work setting.

What do you think is critical to your employee training?

Leading through empowerment and not fear. Leading by example; role playing and listening carefully to training and philosophy. Having an easy to read and understand employee manual. Keeping a core group of motivated, happy long time staff that effectively trains the summer staff.

How do you eliminate or reduce employee turnover?

The interviewing process is key and having a clearly defined type of staff member you are looking for each position. Leading through empowerment and not fear. I said it again because it is so important. We have all worked in a fear-based environment, and I think it can stifle a company’s success. Regarding turnover, we always have end of summer turnover but our

core group has very low turnover. Many of my staff have worked for 5 to 10 years or more. In all three restaurants, we have more than 200 employees in season. In the shoulder season, that number goes down to about 85. That core group of staff is the glue that cements our suc-cess in all three operations. Each one is like a mini manager carrying on the tradition, phi-losophy and chemistry of Bud & Alley’s.

The other key element is my genuine concern for my employees’ well-being and happiness. We cover half the cost of our health insurance plan including dental and vision, for full-time employees.

Regarding my key managers, all 11 of them are on a bonus incentive plan. If they hit their numbers (and they do), I give them quarterly bonuses. They all get two weeks paid vacation in the first year of employment as well. To fight burnout, I don’t want a manager working more than five days in a row, and they all get two days off in a row most every week.

Turnover is low and my managers have a life outside their workplace; a life to enjoy with their families. Less divorce, healthier families equate to happier managers. This all filters down to the happier staff they manage and that projects straight to the customer’s happiness with they’re dining experience.

If I have respect and concern for the manag-ers and they do for the staff, then our customers enjoy the benefit. It’s about balancing their life and work for positivity all around. It costs a little more money on the front-end but the ben-efits are tenfold.

Also, I manage the managers, I don’t micro-manage the managers or the restaurant. I see an importance in going through the chain of command if I see something that needs doing. I meet weekly with the managers to give them the tools they need to do their job.

We make decisions as a team and I ask them each for their valuable opinions and input about pretty much everything regarding the restaurants. I share financials with them, and we discuss any issues that might affect them or operations.

Finally, whenever possible I promote from within the company. Opportunities for growth build loyalty and longevity.

What is your tip to staying in business for such a long time?

Balance your life and your work so you can stay positive for those you interact with. Recognize you can’t do it all. Surround yourself with people who are more efficient than you and empower them to excel. Embrace, make friends with, and openly support your competi-tion; it can only help you and it takes a lot of unnecessary stress out of your life. Surround yourself with people who are efficient and empower them to excel.


This feature celebrates FRLA members that have been in business for a long period of time. It highlights these opera-tors and provides insight into maintaining a long-lived busi-ness. If you have any suggestions or thoughts about this feature, please contact Susie McKinley at [email protected].

Secrets of SuccessLONG-LIVED FRLA MEMBER BUSINESS


I f you are a restaurant owner with fewer than 25 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, and you contrib-ute to their health insurance pre-miums, you may be able to receive the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit.

Who Qualifies?The credit is part of the Patient Protection

and Affordable Care Act. It is designed to help small businesses offer or maintain health insur-ance coverage for moderate and lower income workers.

Here is a simple process to determine if the credit applies to your restaurant.

Step 1: you must pay at least half of the health insurance premiums for your employees.

Step 2: If you have part-time employees, determine their FTE by adding up the total

number of hours they worked in the past year and dividing this by 2,080. Then add that to the number of full-time employees you have who work at least 40 hours a week. (you can’t count owners and family members in this calcu-lation.) If the number is below 25, keep going.

Step 3: Take the total amount of annual wages paid and divide this by the Step 2 figure. This number needs to be lower than $50,000.

How Much Is the Credit and When Does It Apply?

The credit is worth up to 35 percent of your premium costs in 2010, and this continues through 2013. On January 1, 2014, the rate increases to 50 percent—but you must purchase your coverage on an exchange starting that year to qualify.

The credit is phased out gradually for compa-nies that have average wages between $25,000

and $50,000 and for those who have between 10 and 25 FTE workers. In other words, restau-rants who receive the highest credits would be those with nine employees who make less than $25,000 a year.

For example, let’s say you had 40 half-time employees in 2010—which is a 20 FTE. The total annual wages you paid were $500,000, or $25,000 per full-time worker. your employee health care costs were $240,000. you would be eligible for a $28,000 tax credit for 2010 and $40,000 in 2014.

How Do I Get the Credit?This is part of the general business credit on

your income tax return. To ensure you receive it, and to determine the amount of your credit, you (and your tax accountant) need to complete the new one-page Form 8941: Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums. you may find the form at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8941.pdf.

Health Care Education Resources for Restaurants

The National Restaurant Association along with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association are committed to helping you get the facts about health reform as new rules are defined and implemented. Please visit the NRA Health Care Knowledge Center at www.restau-rant.org/healthcare to stay informed on other changes as they occur.

In addition, UnitedHealthcare, the National Restaurant Association, and FRLA have created the Health Insurance Options Center. If you would like individualized assistance with evalu-ating your options for health insurance, speak to our dedicated restaurant team.

you should also consult with your own tax advisor in order to assure compliance with the complex requirements of this provision.

Information provided courtesy of UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affili-ates. Administrative services provided by United HealthCare Services, Inc., or their affiliates. The content provided is for informational purposes only. This communication is not intended, nor should it be construed, as legal or tax advice. Please contact a competent legal or tax professional for legal advice, tax treatment and restrictions. Federal and state laws and regulations are subject to change.

Burning Health Care Reform Questions:

Can I Get Business Tax Credits for Paying Health Insurance Premiums for Employees?

So are we.When it comes to energy and equipment needs, your complete satisfaction is our success.

• Equipment consultation and sales

• Incremental billing solutions

• Energy cost forecasting, budgeting and management

• Appliance services

• Natural gas services

At TECO Partners, we focus on providing solutions that work for your business – helping to make your customers happy, too. Call to connect with your dedicated account manager today.

You’re in the business of making customers happy.

1-800-235-4427tecopartners.com

he a Lt h c a r e


THE FLORIDA RESTAURANT AND LODGING ASSOCIATION ANDUNITEDHEALTHCARE HAVE TEAMED UP TO HELP YOUR BUSINESS

GROW HEALTHY.

Group medical plans for your employees Health plans for individuals and their families Solutions that work with your budget

The UnitedHealth Allies discount plan is administered by HealthAllies,® Inc., a discount medical plan organization. The discount plan is not insurance. The discount plan provides discounts at certain health care providers for medical services. The discount plan does not make payments directly to the providers of medical services. The member is obligated to pay for all health care services but will receive a discount from those health care providers who have contracted with the discount plan organization. HealthAllies, Inc. is located at P.O. Box 10340, Glendale, CA 91209, 888-809-6539.Insurance coverage provided by or through UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company or its affiliates. Health Plan coverage provided by or through a UnitedHealthcare company.

©2011 United HealthCare Services, Inc. UHCFL540173-000

1-855-652-5918 uhctogether.com/FRLA

Help an employee get healthier for $5 a month.


The Florida Swimming Pool Association (FSPA) has summarized some Frequently Asked Questions for new ADA pool requirements which take effect beginning March 15, 2012.

New ADA Requirements for

Swimming Pools, Spas,Wading Pools

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – what you, your business and your clients need to know in order to be compliant.

r eGU L at ion

Q&A and ADAWhat signifies a property as a Public

Accommodation? Pools under ADA regulations fall under either Title II (Municipal pools, school pools, govern-ment owned pools, etc.) or Title III (place of recreation, place of lodging), which addresses public accommodations.

Clear cut Title III facilities include:• Hotels and Bed & Breakfasts are two clear examples of

public accommodations. These establishments are open to the public and actively rent out units. They also advertise and take reservations over the phone. The provision of meals and housekeeping services are also a characteristic of a public accommodation.

• Timeshares and vacation homes that operate as a hotel have to comply. Although the ADA does not affect private or residential property, such property can still be considered a public accommodation if it opens its doors to the public (non-members, non-residents) for use of the facilities:

• Condominiums and homeowner associations must com-ply if they “act like a hotel,” renting out units when owners are absent, advertising such availability, etc.

• Private clubs, which are defined as having a restrictive membership policy and considerable dues, are typically not required to comply with ADA unless the pool is open to non-

members. However, per Florida law, private clubs are always required to comply. More specifically, any of the above must comply if they allow:

• Swim meets that allow outside members or non-resi-dents: Could be required to comply during the hours the facility is being used by the public. Investment in a portable pool lift would provide a sufficient solution to the problem at hand and could even be rented for that time period only.

• Pool memberships that are purchased by non-residents: This affects some apartment complexes, condominiums, as well as various homeowners associations. The memberships would allow the public to use the available facilities, making it a public accommodation. The general rule is if a pool is open to a body of people outside of the general membership or to nonresidents, the pool is considered a public accommo-dation during those times of use. However, if the homeown-er/condominium association member has guests visiting them this does not require compliance. For example, if a birthday party takes place on one of these properties and non-members or non-residents are invited to attend, compliance should not be required. Nevertheless, if a facility is unsure if they fall under the ADA requirements it is wise to consult an attorney. Anyone can file a complaint or lawsuit if they think a facility should have accessibility and it does not.

How will existing pools and spas be affected? New ADA regulations require that any new construction built on and after March 15, 2012 meet all new standards. Existing pools and spas must also comply by this date. ADA requirements must be met with two exceptions: if there is a historical nature of the building/facility or if compliance is not readily achievable (easily accomplished without much expense). Additional specifics regarding existing pools/spas:

• An existing pool or spa going under alteration/renovation on or after March 15, 2012 must meet all the ADA require-ments if the alteration/renovation is in relation to installing access to the pool/spa. For example, if you alter the pool pump it is not required, but if you put in stairs it is. If the altera-tion provides you the opportunity to completely comply with requirements (two means of access for pools greater than 300 linear feet, one means for those less), then one must do so.

• Existing construction that is not being renovated or altered must try to comply. If a permanent fix is not feasible, then a readily achievable fix needs to be made. In the case of a pool, a portable lift is one means to achieve compliance and it can be argued this is readily achievable; therefore,

PART II


most existing pools will need to comply, at least in this manner. Another example, a facility has two pools and a spa but cannot afford to meet all the requirements for all three. However, it could be argued that a readily achievable means of compliance is to purchase a portable lift to have on-site for all three bodies of water.

• Readily achievable: if a facility can dem-onstrate tremendous hardship they may be able to argue none of the means of entry can be achieved by March 15, 2012, but this is on a case by case basis. A plan should then be put in place and a record kept. For example, a plan to put funds away during a certain timeframe and the specifics on how the funds will be used to come into compliance should be on file. Note: Tax credits are available and the option to lease a pool lift exists; this could make a hardship argument difficult to demonstrate.

• Exceptions to the rule: The ADA require-ment for a wading pool is a sloped entry (ramp) meeting certain specifications. If an existing wading pool has a sloped entry that does not meet the specifications or was built with a flat bottom, the only way to comply would be to tear up the pool and in most circumstances this would not be readily achievable. A best practice would be to document this by providing an analysis of the pool to be kept as a record of why the wading pool cannot comply unless it

is undergoing renovations/alterations. Whether or not a facility can comply, they are encour-aged to have a plan for how they will comply with ADA in order to protect themselves. This could include a long-term plan, i.e. one portable lift for multiple bodies of water this year, with a plan to bring all pools into compliance in a staggered period thereafter.

How will the ADA regulations be enforced? Refer back to #10 on the original Q&A for information that addresses direct and indirect enforcement and action by the Florida Building Commission and Department of Health. This is a reminder that it is not the responsibility of the state to enforce or interpret this, it is a federal requirement. If a state says they are not going to enforce the requirements it does not mean a facility need not worry about complying. A state can choose to incorporate the federal provisions into their law or code, which the FBC is doing and the DOH plans to do. A state can also choose to be more stringent than the federal requirements, but they cannot be less stringent. Enforcement will in most cases occur by the filing of legal complaints.

ADA’s HistoryThe original Americans with Disabilities Act

was signed into law on July 26, 1990. The law was divided into five subparts but for the swim-

ming pool and spa industry the relevant sections are Public Entities and Public transportation (Title II) and Public Accommodations and Commercial Facilities (Title III). The original enforcement guidelines did not provide acces-sibility standards for swimming pools and spas. However, in 2004, the Department of Justice issued enforcement guidelines that included pools and spas. At that point they were just that — guidelines — and not law. In July 2010, the Department of Justice announced its final rule making. The revised regulations were then published in the Federal Register on September 16, 2010 and will take effect on March 15, 2011. Compliance with these regulations will be required no later than March 15, 2012.

Swimming Pool, Wading Pool, and Spa Accessibility

The swimming pool, wading pool, and spa guidelines that are now part of the ADA law are virtually the same for both Public Entities (Title II) and Public Accommodations (Title III) facil-ities. They stipulate that any swimming pool with under 300 linear feet of pool wall must provide one means of access, and that means must be either a pool lift or a sloped entry. In addition, any pool that has over 300 linear feet of pool wall must provide two means of access,

Wholesale Only. Not Open To The Public. No Minimum Purchase. Please bring your reseller’s permit on your first visit.

SUPPLYING RESTAURANTS & CATERERS FROM LOCATIONS NATIONWIDE

www.restaurantdepot.com

Where Restaurants Shop

®

®

Our FREEMEMBERSHIP CARDentitles you toSHOP & SAVE.

An authorized user is responsible for all purchases he/she makes.

The owner of the account is responsible for all checks issued as

payment for purchases. This card is the property of Restaurant

Depot and must be surrendered upon request. Use of this card is

governed by Restaurant Depot’s customer polices

Maximizeyour savings

without compromisingfreshness and quality

MIAMI • 2041 N.W. 12th Avenue, Miami, FL 33127 • 305 324.4414MEDLEY • 8850 NW 77th Court, Medley, FL 33166 • 305 884.1213DAVIE • 7050 State Road 84, Davie, FL 33317 • 954 577.0470POMPANO • 1470 Copans Road, Pompano Beach, FL 33064 • 954 972.0212ORLANDO • 3451 W Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32808 • 407 295.4300TAMPA • 8105 North 50th Street , Tampa, FL 33605 • 813 247.7900JACKSONVILLE • 3389 Powers Avenue, Jacksonville, FL 32207 • 904 733.1005


DUNKIN’ BRANDSOne great brand. Two great opportunities.

DUNKIN’ DONUTS RANKED 1 IN CUSTOMER LOYALTY

COFFEE AND DONUT CATEGORY*

BASKIN-ROBBINS RANKED 1ICE CREAM AND FROZEN TREATS FRANCHISE**

4 YEARS IN A

ROW!

Learn more about Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins at:

www.dunkinbrands.com/franchise

Call: 1-877-9-DUNKIN (938-6546)

Email: [email protected]

*2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index **Entrepreneur Magazine, Franchise 500 Issue, January 2008 ©2010 DD IP Holder LLC. All rights reserved.

Franchise with a leader.

DBPR’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants Wins Runners-Up Award from Pioneer Institute

This summer DBPR was awarded a runners’-up award from the Massachusetts Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research’s 20th Annual Better Government Competition (BGC) for its revamping of the Division of Hotels and Restaurants’ Plan Review Program. The proposal “…accelerates the licensing process, improving customer service and protecting public health….” There were over 200 submissions for this distin-guished award. Congratulations H & R!

American Resort Development Supports Proposed Florida Timeshare Resale Legislation

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) announced its support for the Florida Timeshare Resale Accountability Act of 2012 recently proposed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Florida has often been cited as a bellwether state for timeshare regulatory standards; however, companies providing resale services have not been covered under those same standards.

If passed, the Act will provide responsible regu-lations that will protect consumers and promote an ethical and effective secondary market for timeshare resales.

The legislation will require timeshare resale companies to disclose the terms and conditions of services being offered, provide a reasonable rescission period, provide for the regulation of timeshare transfer and rescue companies, and provide for penalties for companies that engage in misleading and fraudulent practices.

which can be any of the five designated means of access: pool lifts, sloped entries, transfer walls, transfer systems, or accessible pool stairs. The criteria that each of these means of access must meet can be found in chapter 10, section 1009 of the revised ADA guidelines. Wading pools must have one means of entry and that must be a sloped entry. Spas, both in-ground and portable, also must have one means of entry, which can be either a lift, transfer wall, or transfer system. The specific requirements that swimming pools, wading pools and spas must meet can be found in chapter 2, section 242 of the revised ADA guidelines.

There are some exceptions from the acces-sibility guidelines. Title II facilities can be excluded if they can prove that modifications

would significantly alter the historic nature of the building. They could also be excused if they could demonstrate that making such modifica-tions would create undue financial hardship for the facility. Title III facilities can be excluded if they can demonstrate that reasonable accom-modations are not readily achievable. However, the Department of Justice has made it very clear that, given the flexibility and cost of a pool lift, it would be very difficult for any entity to escape their responsibility to provide access to a swimming pool.

ADA regulations are enforced directly and indirectly. Most direct enforcement is a result of civil lawsuits initiated by a plaintiff who sues for non-compliance. If the plaintiff prevails, the court usually issues a court order that requires

the defendant to remedy the violation, and attorney’s fees for the plaintiff. There are gener-ally no monetary awards provided to the victori-ous plaintiff.

The ADA is also enforced indirectly by requiring compliance prior to receiving licenses, certifications, or grants from prevailing authori-ties. For example, prior to a local government receiving a federal grant, it must provide proof of compliance with a wide array of regulations ranging from environmental mandates to equal opportunity programs to ADA compliance. In addition, in most localities, any new construc-tion or building modification will not receive a certificate of occupancy without meeting all relevant ADA requirements. Many states will adopt the latest guidelines into their state or local building codes.

To find more information about ADA, please visit FRLA’s website: www.frla.org/new-ada-requirements

a L a c a rte


Social media may be one of the newer kids on the Internet mar-keting block but it has rapidly taken off over the last year. Just about everyone, from your neighbor to your parents, has a social media profile.

But social media is not just for individuals who want to share pictures of their pets or post random comments. Businesses are using it to their advantage too.

According to the latest research by StrongMail, 57% of businesses plan to increase their spending in Social Media in 2011, second only to Email marketing (65%) and ahead of Search Marketing (41%).

Hotels, Restaurants Benefit Greatly from Social Media If Done Right

Hotels and restaurants are some of those businesses realizing that they too can use social media to market like never before. But most are unsure how to best utilize the different social media networks and how to focus on the ones that will work for them.

If that’s you, you’re not alone. But first things first – let’s talk about the three social media platforms that are ideal for hotels and restau-rants and how you can use them to generate revenue to your place of business.

So what is the Social Media Trifecta?There are several types of social media plat-

forms on the market but the key is finding the right mix for the hotel and restaurant industry. We’ve done the leg work for you upfront and determined the following three to be ideal for the food and lodging industry:

1. Facebook2. Twitter3. FoursquareEach one of these social media sites can stand

alone or be integrated to work together for a more powerful marketing punch. They will help you brand your company, provide a platform for meaningful dialogue between you and your audience, and set your business apart from the competition that may have yet to harness the full potential of an effective social media cam-paign.

1Facebook Fans Provide Free Word of MouthMany people are familiar with Facebook,

but for those that aren’t - Facebook is a social networking service and website that requires people to register before accessing the site. After

they register, they can create a personal pro-file, add other people as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, Facebook users may join common-interest user groups organized by workplace, school, college, or other characteristics, and they can categorize their friends into lists.

While individual users sign-up for personal profiles, businesses set up fan pages to help promote their brand. Then, by word of mouth, internal promotion on Facebook (i.e. sugges-tions, shares, recommendations, messages, and ads), or through outside promotion, the business encourages current and prospective customers to visit and “Like” their page. It is really a type of cooperative marketing that the world has never seen before.

People who are fans of a hotel or restaurant will use the Facebook feature to “Like” the page. When they do this, the action appears on the person’s “Wall.” Friends of the individual who “Liked” the page will see that activity as well, which may cause them to check out the restaurant or hotel Facebook page themselves and “Like” it too.

Even if they do not visit the Facebook page right away, it will at least signal to them that this company is trusted by a friend of theirs, thus making it a very positive “word of mouth” marketing tool for restaurants and hotels. With the number of “friends” that most people have on their Facebook account, the fact that some-

one “Likes” a business can be seen by hundreds of people.

Facebook is free to use and many hotels and restaurants have seen massive success by using this form of social media.

2Offer Promos on Twitter To See What People are Saying About Your Brand

Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as “tweets”. People can also follow their brand of choice in the hopes of receiving the inside scoop on specials, promotions, tips, news, and more.

To meet their audiences’ needs, many res-taurants and hotels have started using Twitter to Tweet about new menu items, travel deals, promotions, and to solicit feedback from cus-tomers. From the consumer’s angle, it also gives them free-range, whether happy or disgruntled, to publicly give their stamp of approval or voice their complaints.

Twitter directly connects businesses to the heartbeat of their consumers. By actively listen-ing for mentions of your brand name and stay-ing in front of potential and current customers, you are in a better position to manage your online reputation and provide better customer service to your clientele.

It’s that kind of customer engagement that makes Twitter an invaluable tool for businesses,

Social Media Trifecta for Restaurants and HotelsGenerate More Revenue, Builds Brand Loyalty

Marketing Tacts on Which Business Executives Worldwide Plan to Increase Spending in 2011% of respondentsEmail Marketing

Social MediaSearch (SEO/PPC)

MobileAdvertising

Direct Mail

Tradeshows and Events

Public Relations

Other

65%

57%

41%

35%

25%

18%

16%9%

18%

Source: StrongMail, “2011 Marketing Trends Survey,” provided to eMarketer, Dec 9, 2010

By SCOTT LAMBERT

soci a L medi a


in particular hotels and restaurants. But you and your fans are not the only ones

listening. The competition is also out there lurk-ing to see who they can scoop up with a more impressive deal. And since Twitter breaks down the walls of communication and cuts out the marketing middleman, it’s important that your business establishes itself as a popular and favor-able company on Twitter so potential customers will turn to you for their primary needs and services.

There are a lot of great benefits and potential leads that you can get from using Twitter, so make sure you use your status updates to alert followers about your most recent blog posts, business news that could affect customers, industry tips or trends, and of course retweets from others who have mentioned your business in a positive light.

you never know who is out there monitoring and following your brand name and Twitter can be the first step towards a life-long business relationship.

3Foursquare Check-Ins Give Customers Instant Access to Deals

Foursquare is a location-based social net-working website that allows people to “check-in” at venues using a mobile website, smart phone, tablet, text messaging or a device-specific appli-

cation by selecting from a list of venues the application locates nearby.

The location is determined by GPS hardware in the mobile device or the network location provided by the application. Each check-in can award the person “badges” for best check-ins such as the “Swarm” badge for attending a large event (i.e. conferences) where 50+ people are also checked-in, “Pizzaiolo” for pizza con-noisseurs who have had slices from 20 different pizza places, and “JetSetter” for people who have checked-in to at least 5 airports. The badges then decorate their Foursquare profile for those looking for bragging rights.

More importantly, people also check-in on Foursquare to receive a deal or promotion they can redeem for a discount on food or hotel lodging.

According to a Mobile Marketing Associate survey, nearly one of every four adults is using mobile location-based services. Hotels and restaurants can leverage Foursquare to drive in more walk-in traffic. Advertising deals and promotions always help bring people in, but a check-in is like an electronic coupon that gives people an instant discount just because they publicly arrived at your place of business.

Checking-in works both ways - your custom-ers get a deal plus you get added exposure when they publish their check-in to their social media feeds such as Twitter and Facebook, which puts

your brand name in front of an ever larger audi-ence. When people get an incentive, they are more likely to spread the news and view your business more favorably.

Start a Social Media Campaign NowIt is likely that if your business does not

implement and manage an effective social media program now, you will have a harder time gain-ing an online community for your target market in the future.

Social Media Marketing is critical for online business success, especially for restaurants and hotels. This type of marketing medium was simply made for hospitality. Don’t wait or it may be too late.

If you’re currently not engaging in social media, Xcellimark can help you get started on building your brand, creating an online com-munity of brand loyalists, and generating more traffic to your restaurant, hotel and/or website. The time to get started is now.

Scott Lambert is marketing director for Xcellimark, a company which focuses on increas-ing client revenues and profits by improving their online image and performance, increasing online leads and closure rates, and improving branding through custom website design, search market-ing, social media, email marketing and campaign optimization. Contact Scott Lambert at 407-678-3062 ext. 210 or visit www.xcellimark.com

For More Information Call


U niQU e a menit ie s a L a c a rte

Gaylord Palms ICE!™ and SNOW!

Gaylord Palms Resort has partnered with DreamWorks to present “Orlando’s Coolest Holiday Tradition”. Two million pounds of ice carved into a “winter wonderland” on 4.5 acres at the Resort. Shrek the Halls™ ICE!™ and Kung Fu Panda Awesome SNOW! will be on-hand at the Resort from November 16, 2011 to January 2, 2012.

ICE!™ carvings and a play area will be carved by Chinese artisans and will include five 30-foot ice slides. SNOW! will feature a 64-foot slide and play area in a “snow village” made from 130 tons of snow. Gaylord Palms is offering many other Christmas-themed activities including a DreamWorks Scavenger Hunt, Luminescence Live Musical Revue, visits with Santa, and Gingy’s Gingerbread Decorating.

Resort guests and the public are invited.

Pest Control for Ticks?We are all aware that pest control is a neces-

sary component of owning and managing a successful food service or lodging business in Florida’s climate. From ants, cockroaches and flies to termites, spiders, rodents and bedbugs, Florida’s pest control operators keep fairly busy in our Industry’s establishments.

We know that “Step One” in any pest control program is prevention. Keep pests out. Don’t provide any “safe harbor” for pests. Seal open-ings to the outside, don’t leave doors open, etc.

What if pests come into your establishment riding on your guests? Many food service and lodging businesses in Florida now allow pet dogs to visit along with their owners. Pets har-bor pests.

A recent visitor to a Central Florida hotel woke up in a pet-friendly hotel to find that he and his wife had been bitten by ticks. Each had 2 or 3 ticks on them. The visitor handled the situation correctly, as did the manager of the lodging establishment: the guest reported the problem; security came to the room to verify the situation; and the lodging manager refunded the guests’ money for the night’s stay. This is another tricky situation that could have been extremely negative, but for the decisive action of the manager.

So remember when you allow pets to visit your establishment, the pets may bring unin-vited guests. It is important to be vigilant in your pest control.

Ethnic Cuisines and Flavors1) Regional ethnic cuisine2) Ethnic fusion cuisine3) Southeast Asian cuisine

(e.g. Thai, vietnamese, Burmese, Malaysian)4) Peruvian cuisine5) Latin American/Nuevo Latino cuisine

In Appetizers1) Ethnic/street food-inspired appetizers

(e.g. tempura, taquitos, kabobs, hummus)2) Amuse bouches/bite-size hors d’oeuvres3) Warm appetizer salads4) Appetizer combos/platters5) Dumplings/dim sum

iTunes StoreIf you haven’t taken a look at the iTunes

store lately, you should spend a few minutes and search the travel apps, food apps and hotel apps. you will be surprised at how many there are! The Store breaks each topic into iPhone, iPad and Podcasts, and many of the apps are free! There are food delivery, restaurant locaters, restaurant crit-ics, health and fitness, hotel booking, des-tination reviews, etc., etc. etc. Have some fun! Check it out!

What is foursquare™?With 10 million users and availability

in 6 different languages, foursquare™ is a social networking site that allows users, who must be registered with the network and using a mobile phone, to “check in” and get points or “badges” for checking in. In addition, users can “connect” with friends.

As a business owner, encouraging your patrons to join foursquare™ and check in at your business may drive traffic to you. visit www.foursquare.com for more information!

Cool Web Pages

Contact FRLA to solve compliance issues at 866-372-7233 or www.SafeStaff.org

OUT OF COMPLIANCE?

– National Restaurant Associaiton 2011 Restaurant Industry Forecast


mov er s & sh a k er s

cool.

crisp

happy.happy.happy

tangy.tangy.tangy

spcheesycheesyc .heesy.heesymmm.m.

original.curious.

refreshed.

eesyeesy.eesyymmmsaucyy. cheescheesc eesh

mouth-wmyy

hungry.hungry.hungryhunhhapp

ungr

sp.hed.ed hungryflavorful.flavorful.fullorffl orfurf rere

cool.

gorig

. tastytasty.tasty.tastyyyygy. juicyjuicy.juicy.juicyy..j

refreshed.datering.twat

refreshrefreshrefreshawesomeawesomea

tastytasty.tasty.tastytastas tatasty

sizzling

happytangy.tangy.tangy original.

curious.

refreshed.hed.ed hungryryyy.y.yflavorful.orfurere hgoriginal.ororig

. tastytasty.tasty.tastyyyygy. juicyjuicy.juicy.juicyy..j

refreshedd.atering.

tan

refreshrefreshrefreshwesome.

savorysavory.savory.savoryavoryavoryavor h

craveablee.ablee

flavorful.

crisp

sizzling

crisp.

crisp

happy.happy.happy

spcheesycheesyc .heesy.heesy

original.curious.

refreshed.

eesyeesy.eesyy sweet.saucyy. cheescheesc eesh

mouth-wmouth-wateringmppp

ywa

yhungry.hungry.hungry

happ

sp.hed.ed hungryhungryryyy.flavorful.flavorful.fullrere

cool.

eet.t. agoriginal.ororig

. tasty.tasty.tastyyyy

p.

juicy.juicy.juicyy..

cooly.y

tangy

sizzling

crisp.

happy.happy.happy

cheesycheesyc .heesy.heesy

original.

refreshed

refreshed.

eesyeesy.eesyy sweet.cheescheesc eeshmouth-wateringteri

tanm

ppwa

ywat

refreshrefreshrefreshy.

hed.ed hungryhungryryyy.y.y

cool.

h

eet.t. awesomeawesomeagoriginal.or

om

origtastytasty.tasty.tastyyyy

p.tastytasty.tasty.tastytast

ttstyastyt

ng.nal.g craveable

fi rst in lineJoin Burger 21 and take a bite of the $65 billion burger business!Burger 21®—a new fast casual franchise concept featuring 21 chef-inspired burger creations, hand-dipped signature shakes and more—is ready to grow rapidly across the U.S.

Burger 21 offers:• Major market territories throughout Florida and Eastern U.S.

• Special fi nancial incentives available through June 2012

• 25+ years of franchising experience with owners of The Melting Pot Restaurants, Inc.

happy.happy.happyhungryhungryhunh

happrefreshed.

wesome.

Single and Multi-Unit Franchising Opportunities Available! Dan Stone, VP of Franchise Development

(813) 425-6208 • [email protected] • burger21franchise.com

Left to right: Stuart Borton, Yellow Dog Cafe; Senate President Mike Haridopolis; and Carol Dover, FRLA President/CEO.

Left to right: Rhett Fischer, Rusty’s Seafood and Oyster Bar; Carol Dover, FRLA President/CEO; Senator Thad Altman; Jim Ridenour, Marriott

Carol Dover and Richard Turner were guests dur-ing the well-attended Space Coast Legislative Awards Dinner, which took place Oct. 24. Senate President Haridopolos, Representatives Goodson and Mayfield were presented awards for their continued service to the hospitality industry. Senator Thad Altman was awarded the “Space Coast Legislator of the year” for his leadership on the Online Travel issue.

Space Coast Legislative Awards Dinner


Florida’s Attorney General Pam Bondi with ProStart students from West Boca High attending the Republican Association of Attorney General’s conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach.

Bruce Craul was in Washington, D.C. on October 12, 2011, testifying before the House Committee on Natural Resources. The Committee was conducting an oversight hearing on “One year after President Obama’s Gulf of Mexico 6-Month Moratorium Officially Lifted: Examining the Lingering Impacts on Jobs, Energy Production and Local Economies.”

The hearing provided an opportunity to hear from Gulf Coast residents and businesses about the economic challenges they are still facing one year after the Obama Administration lifted its official offshore moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium has caused hardship for Gulf families and slowed much needed American energy production.

Drew McLeod, former FRLA staffer, is President and COO of Kind Intelligence, Inc,. a company that will soon introduce mobile menu technology. Menulus will be 5 software applica-tions that will deliver ease in menu changes, customer preferences, sales data and other per-tinent information to restaurant operators using a smartphone or other portable device such as an iPad. Menulus is designed to eventually replace paper menus within the next few years. Eventually Menulus will be expanded to assist the lodging market. Good luck Drew!

James “JP” Roberts has been named Hotel Manager at the Hotel Duval in Tallahassee. JP was with the Emerald Grande in Destin as Room Division Director . Hotel Duval General Manager Marc Bauer will remain at the hotel and work closely with JP over the

next few months. Bauer’s responsibilities with Hotel Duval’s parent company will expand in 2012 to include pursuing both local and regional growth. Bauer will remain as FRLA Tallahassee Chapter President through 2011. Congratulations to both!


Just How ‘Green’ Can a Barbecue Restaurant Be?

Gr een t iPs

By SCOTT JOSEPH

A s we discussed in previous issues, Brian Hill of Brian’s Bar-B-Q in Deland is in the process of transforming his restaurant into a more ecologically friendly business. With federal funds dedicated to promoting energy effi-ciency, funneled through a city program, Hill is making myriad improve-ments to his barbecue joint’s physical plant, including upgrading the insu-lation, putting on a new roof, installing a more efficient air-conditioning system, and switching to LED lighting with solar cells. He is also chang-

ing the landscaping to a Florida xeriscape layout and is planning to capture rainwater for use in f lushing toilets and mopping f loors. And hopes to convert the engines of his delivery trucks to run on spent fryer oil.

But he’d like to do more. So he consulted with Green Restaurants Association and learned that one of the main factors the organization analyzes for certification as a “green,” or environmentally friendly, restaurant is its use of local, sustainable food. Food is considered to be local if it is sourced from within a 100-mile radius; food from within a 300-mile radius is called regional. From an environmental

Is Local Sourcing Possible?

According to statistics provided by Conserve, an environmen-tal initiative of the National Restaurant Association: Restaurants use five times more

energy per square foot than other commercial buildings and five times more energy in the kitchen than in the rest of the building. [And those] energy costs represent 30% of a typical building’s annual budget. Spending on utilities consumes approximately 2.5 to 3.4% of total restaurant sales.

Furthermore, as much as 80% of the $10 bil-lion annual energy bill for the commercial food service sector does no useful work, according to Mass Save and the Food Service Technology Center (FSTC). With that in mind, here are a few tried and true tips every restaurateur and

general manager should know to help conserve propane use and lower their bill.

First, maintain your equipment properly and perform regular service checks. A certified tech-nician trained to perform routine maintenance on appliances can help ensure they are operat-ing efficiently. Once you’ve done that it may be worth looking into buying more efficient appliances and adjusting the way you operate them. Using the FSTC’s tool for measuring energy efficiency cost savings, it is possible for restaurants to save significantly. Energy and cost saving estimates use the following assumptions:

• Propane energy cost = $2.908 per Therm (based on EIA 2011 U.S. winter (Oct-Mar) average price per gallon of $2.675)

• Equipment use per day = 16 hours• Equipment use per year = 365 days

Tips to Conserve Energy

Chris DeFilippo is a Product Manager with AmeriGas.

Tactic Energy Savings Cost Savings

Purchase an Energy Star® gas steamer Up to 2,090 Therms per year $ 6,077.72Purchase an Energy Star® gas fryer Up to 450 Therms per year $ 1,308.60Purchase a high-efficiency gas combination oven Up to 400 Therms per year $ 1,163.20Turn off the broiler when not needed Up to 360 Therms per year by

turning it off for one hour every day$ 1,046.88

Purchase a high-efficiency gas convection oven Up to 320 Therms per year $ 930.56

Purchase a high efficiency gas griddle Up to 80 Therms per year $ 232.64

Total Up to 3700 Therms per year $ 10,759.60

By CHRIS DEFILIPPO

standpoint, locally-sourced food matters because it takes less fuel to transport the products from farm to market. Shipping over longer distances adds to pollution and requires more fossil fuels (assuming the jets and semi-tractor trailers aren’t powered by spent frying oil).

In its simplest definition, sustainable means using resources at their rate of recovery. The sustainable part isn’t so difficult; it’s basically a choice of what not to buy or serve.

But trying to buy locally sourced ingredients is another matter. Hill is finding that Kermit the Frog was years ahead of his time when he sang, “It’s not easy being green.”

Sourcing ingredients locally “lends itself to easy things like garden products,” says Hill. But with the exception of fish, which is more readily available in Florida (and more carefully moni-tored for its sustainability), protein is difficult for Florida restaurants to buy locally. “And that’s the heaviest thing we purchase,” says Hill.

Mainly, it’s a matter of demand overreach-ing supply. Even the farmers and ranchers of Central Florida agree that they can’t meet the needs of all the restaurants that would like to buy local products. Trisha Strawn of Deland’s Deep Creek Ranch, which produces livestock, says she wouldn’t even be able to meet just Hill’s demand. “He would wipe my herd out,” she says.

Strawn says she provides to 63 restaurants throughout Florida, 15 of which consistently buy the same things every week. That’s a mere fraction of the state’s food-service businesses and even that strains Deep Creek Ranch’s inventory. Also, many of the state’s larger producers of livestock typically raise cattle to weening then ship to stockyards several states away -- closer to the feed -- only to be shipped back to Florida for processing. By the time it reaches the plate, a steak that started out as local could have a rather large carbon footprint.

And that’s not even taking into consider-ation the feed used to raise the cattle. Most livestock animals are fed grains, such as corn. And although corn is renewable, corn crops are also capable of being depleted, especially when corn is sought after by those seeking to produce biofuels to replace fossil fuels. (Catching on to the vicious cycle?) There is also the age-old argument that the amount of grain needed to raise a steer to maturity could be put to more rational use.

Cost is another factor. A pound of meat from

Part III of a SeriesJust How ‘Green’ Can a

Barbecue Restaurant Be?

Part III of a Series


Event Calendar2011-2012For more information: www.frla.org/events

■ FRLA Winter Board Meeting & Installation BanquetMonday-Wednesday, December 5-7, 2011Emerald Grande, DestinFor more information, contact Sandy Moore at 850-224-2250 ext 245 or [email protected].

■ Legislative Session ConvenesTuesday, January 10, 2012

■ Florida Tourism DayWednesday, January 18, 2012Tallahassee, FLFor more information, contact Christina Jones or Richard Turner at 850-224-2250.

■ FRLA Marketing SummitFebruary 6, 2012Wyndham Tampa Westshore, Tampa, FL

■ Last Day of Session (60th Day)Friday, March 9, 2012

■ FRLA Summer Board MeetingMonday-Wednesday, June 4-6, 2012Casa Marina, Key WestFor more information, contact Sandy Moore at 850-224-2250.

■ AH&LA Summer Board MeetingSunday-Wednesday, June 17-20, 2012For more information, contact Alliah Sheta at 850-224-2250.

■ Florida Restaurant & Lodging ShowSunday-Tuesday, September 23-25, 2012Orlando, FL

We’ll BEAT our Competitor’s Propane Price up to 5%!

PLUS New Customers Receive 4 Hours of FREE Labor on a Scheduled Service Appointment

• Hassle Free Patio Heater Programs

• Special Tankless Water Heater Rebates

• $150 New Customer Referral Awards

COMPLETE STATEWIDE COVERAGE

Lance Franscell • (813) 210-4763 [email protected]

FRLA Members Lets Get Acquainted with this

NEW CUSTOMER SPECIAL!

Do We Know Each Other? Do We Know Each Other?

www.amerigas.com

ATTENTION ProPane Users!

Excuse me…

Automatic Delivery • 24/7 Live Customer Care

New FRLA member customers only. Written invoice verification required for up to five percent competitor discount. Certain restrictions may apply.

Find us on Facebook & Twitterwww.amerigas.com/blog

2007 Supplier of the Year

a local, boutique rancher costs more than one raised by a high-volume producer. Even if Hill could find a local source to supply the pork and beef to meet the needs of Brian’s Bar-B-Q, he’d have to raise his prices higher than the average barbecue lover is likely willing to pay.

The problem isn’t unique to animal products. Hill shakes his head at the trajectory of a simple sweet potato fry. Although sweet potatoes are grown in the south, they are processed into fries and packaged in the northeast, then shipped back to the south as a regional delicacy.

So, what’s the answer? Hill says there needs to be a call to action among restaurateurs who, like him, want to do more but are hindered by available resources. He says that perhaps its time for someone to reclaim former groves and farms that were converted to take advantage of the now busted real estate boom.

In the meantime he does what he can, which includes the ongoing renovations to Brian’s Bar-B-Q’s structure. And he cuts his own steaks and grinds his own beef, so at least some of the ren-dering is considered local. As for sourcing local products for the menu, “I buy my herbs from a local guy,” he says.

Little steps can make a smaller footprint.Scott Joseph is an internationally recognized

restaurant critic, consultant and writer. He pub-lishes Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide at ScottJosephOrlando.com.


memBer shiP

Marco Island

RayGreen

CorkeyBergamo

StephanieMurdoch

DanneeeLynch

LynneHernandez

2010 Regional Directors Territories

Northwest Florida - Ray Green230 S. Adams StreetTallahassee, FL 32301Office 850-224-2250 ext. 230Cell 850-545-5901Fax [email protected]

Northeast Florida - Corkey Bergamo11920 Gran Crique Ct. S.Jacksonville, FL 32223Home/Fax 904-880-6964Cell [email protected]

Central Florida - Stephanie Murdoch201 W. Canton Ave., Suite 100Winter Park, FL 32789Cell 407-405-4070Fax [email protected]

Tampa Bay & Southwest Florida - Danneee LynchPO Box 554Largo, FL 33779727-642-3404Fax [email protected]

South Florida - Lynne HernandezPO Box 566263Miami, FL 33256-6263Office 305-598-FRLA (3752)Cell 305-710-3962Fax [email protected]

Get To Know Your FRLA Regional Directors

Northwest Florida - Ray Green230 S. Adams StreetTallahassee, FL 32301Office 850-224-2250 ext. 230Cell 850-545-5901Fax [email protected]

Northeast Florida - Corkey Bergamo11920 Gran Crique Ct. S.Jacksonville, FL 32223Home/Fax 904-880-6964Cell [email protected]

Central Florida - Stephanie Murdoch201 W. Canton Ave., Suite 100Winter Park, FL 32789Cell 407-405-4070Fax [email protected]

Director of Membership / Tampa Bay & Southwest Florida - Dannette Lynch

PO Box 554Largo, FL 33779727-642-3404Fax [email protected]

South Florida - Lynne HernandezPO Box 566263Miami, FL 33256-6263Office 305-598-FRLA (3752)Cell 305-710-3962Fax [email protected]

Congratulations WINNERS OF THE FREE FRLA.ORG WEBSITE BANNER ADThe drawing was conducted at the FRLA Trade show for all new allied members. Coastal Angler Magazine CLK CLK, Inc. Central Beer imports

FRLA MEMBERS WHO WON A FREE CPFM EXAM AT SEPTEMBER’S FRLA TRADE SHOW! David Anders, Dave’s New york Deli – Newberry Foster Lanenga, Farris & Foster’s Chocolate Factory – Winter Park Neil Solomon, Moe’s Southwest Grill – Altamonte Springs Linda Zingale, Zingale’s Billiards & Sports Bar – Tallahassee Stefanie Catania, Trattoria GF – Palm Bay Patrick Morrissey, PDB Morrissey Enterprise LLC – Ponte vedra Beach

Florida’s Forgotten Coast hosted musicians and songwriters for three days in October for the Blast on the Bay.

Blast on the Bay

Sponsor and songwriter wel-come reception on the beach at the 3rd Annual Blast on the Bay Songwriter’s Festival.


The FRLA’s Educational Foundation (FRLAEF) teamed up with The Tampa Bay Rays and the Rays Baseball Foundation for the annual “Shirts Off Our Backs” promotion which raised over $60,000 for the two charities. The event was held September 23rd - September 28th during the final home games of the Ray’s regular season. The FRLAEF’s portion of the

funds raised will benefit the ProStart and LMP programs in the seven counties surrounding the Ray’s complex.

In return for a small donation fans received scratch-off cards and had the opportunity to win prizes donated by generous sponsors. Forty-five thousand prizes, totaling more than $450,000 in value, were donated for the six-day event. Over 300 volunteers were on hand at the ballpark dur-ing the six-day fundraiser selling the scratch-off cards to game attendees. On Wednesday, September 28th, the final game of the regular season, the lucky winners of Rays game worn jerseys received their prize.

A special thank you to the following companies for donating coupons, discounts and other great prizes for this annual promotion: Anna Maria Oyster Bar; Bella’s Italian Café; Bob Evans; Broken Egg Restaurant; Bubba Gump Shrimp Company; Champps Americana; Days Inn Port Charlotte; Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill; Gecko’s Pub & Grill; Miller’s Ale House; Muvico; New Balance; Tampa Bay Rays; Texas Cattle Company; TradeWinds Island Resort; Universal/CityWalk; and more.

About FRLA Educational Foundation - The FRLAEF administers and executes two high school curriculums - the NRA Educational Foundations’s (NRAEF) ProStart and the AH&LA Educational Institute’s (AHLA EI) Lodging Management Program (LMP) - in over 240 Florida high schools and provides resources to nearly 20,000 students in these culinary arts and hospi-tality management programs.

About the Rays Baseball Foundation - The Rays Baseball Foundation is committed to supporting youth and education programs throughout the Tampa Bay region. In 2010, the Rays Baseball Foundation proudly invested more than $1.7 million in youth and education programs in the Tampa Bay area through grant programs and community outreach initiatives. The Rays Baseball Foundation and the Rays are committed to serving the community and are proud to support organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Community Tampa Bay, The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the YMCA’s of Greater St. Petersburg and Metro Tampa and many, many others.

Tampa Bay Rays and Rays Baseball Foundation Raise $60,000

Volunteers selling scratch off tickets

Fr L a’s edUc at iona L FoU ndat ion

U ni v er sa L sPonsor

GLoBa L sPonsor s


To register, call toll-free 1-866-372-SaFe (7233) or visit www.safestaff.org. registration for training begins at 8:00 a.m. and for exam at 12:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Dates subject to change.

Food Manager Training & Testing Schedulewww.safestaff.org

Bradenton Dec 14Courtyard Marriott100 Riverfront Drive

Clearwater Dec 5Holiday Inn Select3535 Ulmerton Rd.

Daytona BeachDec 7Holiday Inn2620 International Speedway Blvd Deerfield BeachDec 6Hilton100 Fairway Drive

Ft. Lauderdale Dec 20Embassy Suites1100 SE 17th St Causeway

Ft. MyersDec 22Holiday Inn Downtown2431 Cleveland Ave.

Ft. PierceDec 1UF Indian River Research2199 South Rock Rd.

Ft WaltonDec 5Holiday Inn Resort573 Sana Rosa Blvd

GainesvilleDec 13, Jan 17Best Western Gateway Grand4200 NW 97th Blvd.

IslamoradaTBAThe Islander ResortMM 82.1, US Hwy 1

JacksonvilleDec 1Wyndham Riverwalk1515 Prudential Drive

Jacksonville BeachDec 7Quality Inn Oceanfront11 North 1st Street

Key WestDec 6Doubletree Grand Key Resort3990 S. Roosevelt Blvd

Kissimmee Dec 5Seralago Hotel and Suites5678 Irlo Bronson Mem. Hwy

Lake CityJan 23Country Inn & Suites350 SW Florida Gateway Dr

LakelandDec 15, Jan 4Ramada3260 Hwy 98 North

MandarinDec 14Ramada Inn Mandarin3130 Hartley Road

MelbourneDec 8Holiday Inn8298 N Wickham Rd

Merritt IslandDec 15Clarion Hotel260 E Merritt Island Cswy

Miami (Spanish Dates*)Dec 12Dec 1*Hilton Miami Airport & Towers5101 Blue Lagoon Drive

NaplesDec 8Quality Inn and Suites4100 Golden Gate Pkwy

OcalaDec 19, Jan 10Homewood Suites4610 SW 49th Rd

Orlando (Spanish Dates*)Dec 14Dec 5*Holiday Inn Resort Castle8629 International Drive

Panama CityDec 1Gulf Coast Comm CollegeGibson Lecture Hall5230 W. Hwy. 98

Pensacola Dec 12Pensacola Civic Center201 E. Gregory St

Port Richey Dec 19, Jan 11Days Inn & Suites10826 US 19 North

SanfordDec 13Springhill Suites Marriott301 North Towne Road

Sarasota Dec 7Hampton Inn5995 Cattleridge Road

St. Augustine Dec 20, Jan 25Holiday Inn Express & Suites2300 State Road 16

Tallahassee Dec 15, Jan 26Day’s Inn Monroe Street Conf Cntr2714 Graves Road

Tampa (Spanish Dates*)Dec 12Dec 19*Clarion Hotel2701 E Fowler Ave

West Palm BeachDec 13, Jan 9Holiday Inn Airport1301 Belvedere Rd


Know what an allergic reaction is, and what to do when an allergic reaction is observed. Know the difference between mild and severe reactions.

Be ready to call for a manager’s help or 911 if necessary. ASK GUESTS: DO YOU HAVE A FOOD ALLERGY THAT I SHOULD BE AWARE OF?

GET YOUR FRLA COMPLIANCE TOOLS FROM WWW.SAFESTAFF.ORG

Milkand Dairy Products

Eggand Egg Products

Soyand Soy Products

Wheatand Wheat Products

FishGrouper, Snapper, etc.

ShellfishShrimp, Crab, etc.

Tree NutsPecans, etc.

Peanutsand Peanut Products

Symptoms of Allergic Reaction• Sneezing, Coughing• Itching Around Face or Neck• Itching or Tingling in Mouth• Hives• Vomiting, Diarrhea, Cramping• Swelling of Face, Throat, Tongue or Lips• Wheezing, Difficulty Breathing • Dizzyness, Unconsciousness• Coma or Death

To Prevent Food Cross-Contamination • Use clean and sanitized equipment

• Wash hands thoroughly when working with potential allergens and prior to working with other foods

• Change gloves after working with allergens, wash hands as required prior to putting on clean gloves

• Wash and rinse grill or other equipment before preparing food for an allergic guest

• Handle allergens as though they will contaminate any surface or food they touch

FRLA Allergens Poster vertical.indd 1 2/22/11 4:01 PM


Documents

FRL Dec/Jan 2012