by Bill Roberts, 2000 MRA President

It has been quite a year!! We began this historic year of 2000 with Y2K hoopla and ended with the most controversial Presidential Election in one hundred years. From start to finish, your Michigan Restaurant Association had a very busy and productive year. Here’s a quick review . . . . .

As you know, our MRA headquarters is in Lansing so that we can be politically involved and close to our state’s Capitol. And in this pivotal election year, our presence was certainly felt. In May, forty five restaurateurs participated in our first ever “Capitol Day.” Additionally, we hosted the Legislature and their staffs in September at the Taste of Michigan. I’d like to thank all of those who participated in these two events in an effort to voice our concerns to our legislators. Only when we are politically active can we influence the laws that affect our industry.

Speaking of political action, our Political Action Committee (PAC) had a banner year raising money for pro-business candidates for office. We raised over $75,000. We achieved this by having excellent fund-raisers all across the State of Michigan. Golf outings took place in Lansing and Traverse City. A cocktail party was hosted by Alex Czinki and Dudley Marvin in Harbor Springs, a dinner in Ann Arbor was hosted by Michigan NRA Board Member Mike Gibbons and of course the Detroit Golf Club was the location of another excellent Chef’s Dinner. Twenty of our members gave at least $2,000 to the PAC to become members of Team 2000. This PAC money was used to support scores of House candidates friendly to our industry. All told, 96% of the candidates supported by the MRA won their election. We also supported the successful re-election of three Supreme Court Justices. Additionally, the money raised by these outings contributed to the success of introducing and passing a bill that eliminates the sales and use taxes on employee meals. And finally, we put our financial resources behind the anti-business Proposal 2 ballot initiative, which was soundly defeated at the polls.

Your Association is focused on more than just politics, though. For example, never has education and food safety been so important to our industry. In recognition of this, the MRA provided state-wide seminars detailing our state’s newly implemented Food Code. Compliance with the new code is important: please call the MRA office with any questions you may have about the new standard.

We’ve added 15 high schools to our School-to-Career mentoring program during the year. The MRA also sponsored a seminar for college/university and high school/voc tech instructors to open the lines of communication with educators across the state. Our annual Trade Show took place at the Novi Expo Center in October. We had excellent attendance and provided many educational opportunities for our members. Our esteemed speakers included David Brandon of Domino’s, Chef Mark Miller of the Coyote Café and Chef Curtis Aikens of the Food Network. Many thanks to them for their time and insightful remarks.

This year went by quickly and of course there is still so much more to accomplish in the future. Your Board of Directors and Officers will continue to work very hard to provide you even more benefits for your membership dollars. I would like to thank Jerry Fournier and Larry Schuler for their commitment and assistance as Vice President and Treasurer. I also would like to thank Rob Gifford and his team of professionals who run our association on a day-to-day basis. These folks are very dedicated to our association and to our industry. They do a wonderful job.

Lastly, I would like to thank you, my fellow members, for allowing me to serve as your President this year. It has been a great experience. I look forward to seeing you at our Annual President’s Dinner on January 30, 2001, at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, when we welcome our new MRA President, Jerry Fournier.

In closing, I’d like to continue to urge all of our membership to become more involved in both our industry and our Association!! You are needed! Have a safe and joyous holiday.