National Restaurant Association Recognizes Billy Downs of bd’s mongolian barbeque with Restaurant Neighbor Award for International Outreach
Restaurant company first to bring American hospitality to Mongolia
(Washington, DC) The National Restaurant Association today announced that Billy Downs, president of bd’s mongolian barbeque in Ferndale, Mich., has been named Cornerstone Humanitarian in conjunction with the Association’s eighth annual Restaurant Neighbor Award. The Downs restaurant was presented the award and a prize of $5,000 to continue its community outreach during the Association’s 21st annual Public Affairs Conference in Washington, DC. The award celebrates the philanthropic spirit of the restaurant industry and serves to inspire others to actively get involved in their communities.
“Many restaurants focus their charitable efforts on the area in which they operate, but multi-unit restaurant companies also have unique opportunities to support a wider community through establishments in numerous markets,” said Steven C. Anderson, Association president and chief executive officer. “I commend Billy Downs for expanding his community outreach beyond our nation’s borders. Downs’ commitment to establish a bd’s mongolian barbeque restaurant in Mongolia enabled many people of its capital city to find career opportunities, help build and grow a sense of community and provide good food and service to its customers.”
This year’s Cornerstone Humanitarian winner Billy “bd” Downs could have been content with expanding his popular bd’s mongolian barbeque franchise into nearly 50 destinations across the United States. However, Downs had a bigger vision—one that would bring American hospitality to Mongolia and help create change for a country in dire need of assistance.
When the country of Mongolia opened to visitors after the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, Downs looked to the roots of his concept and brought American hospitality to Mongolia. The undertaking was monumental. Downs took numerous trips to Mongolia prior to opening bd’s, learning about the country’s economy and culture. He met a young entrepreneur in Mongolia who convinced him that traditional Mongolian-style cooking would be welcomed in the country. Downs was inspired to do whatever it took to open the first bd’s outside the United States—and the first American-franchised restaurant—in Mongolia as a way to support the community that gave him his own success.
Under Downs’ leadership, bd’s donated $250,000 to assist help start a bd’s franchise in Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar. He worked with his staff and new employees in Mongolia to design the restaurant’s layout, develop its menu and train students on the importance of food safety and preparation. bd’s also collected cooking utensils, glasses and other items needed to run the restaurant and shipped them overseas to the Mongolian location.
bd’s opened in Ulaanbaatar on May 12, 2005, serving real Mongolian barbeque based on the ancient Mongolian king and warriors’ way of cooking. The new restaurant has helped provide the community in this impoverished nation with hope, jobs, funds for Mongolian youth programs and the delicious food made famous by their ancestors.
A portion of the profits from the restaurant support the Mongolian Youth Development Foundation, which works to provide social, educational, cultural and physical activities to Mongolia’s impoverished youth. bd’s anticipates that $25,000 annually will be given to the Mongolian Youth Development Foundation.
Planning is currently underway for new bd’s locations in Mongolia and in Russia. The company also established a management-exchange program to train Mongolians in the U.S., with a total of seven managers successfully completing training so far and eight bd’s managers from the U.S. working in Mongolia over the past year.
Restaurants from each participating state were selected to contend for the national Restaurant Neighbor Award (single-unit, multi-unit and national chain categories) and the Cornerstone Humanitarian award, which is awarded to an individual who is an exemplary model of one who is personally dedicated to community service. The national winners each receive $5,000 to help continue its community programs. A profile of the community-service efforts of each national and state winner will be highlighted in a booklet about the award, as well as on the Association’s Web site, www.restaurant.org/community. American Express is the founding partner of the program.
“As a founding partner of the National Restaurant Association’s Neighbor Award, American Express is proud to recognize this year’s winners for all they’ve done to make a difference in their communities,” said Curtis Wilson, Vice President and General Manager, Restaurant Industries, American Express Establishment Services. “The awardees are powerful examples of why restaurants are truly the cornerstone of their communities, impacting the areas where they and their customers live and work.”
The 2006 Restaurant Neighbor Award multi-unit winner is Mo’s Restaurants in Newport, Ore.; and the single-unit winner is Drago’s Seafood Restaurant in Metairie, La. The winner of the national chain award is Firehouse Subs in Jacksonville, Fla.
For more information on the 2006 winners, or the Restaurant Neighbor Award, please contact the National Restaurant Association at media@dineout.org or (202) 973-3677, or visit www.restaurant.org/community.
Founded in 1921, the Michigan Restaurant Association represents more than 4,500 Michigan foodservice establishments. The foodservice industry plays an integral role in Michigan’s economy, employing more than 436,000 people and creating more than $11.3 billion in total annual sales. For more information, call (517) 482-5244.
