LANSING – The Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA) today announced that Dennis Brinker of Birmingham has received the MRA Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor given by the association.  He was bestowed with the honor January 29 in Birmingham.  

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes individuals who have provided exceptional and continuing leadership, vision and commitment to the Michigan food service industry.  Brinker is president of Sign of the Beefcarver, which is based in Birmingham.  His company also operates the Clarkston Café in Clarkston and Wagon Wheel Saloon in Troy.  

“This is truly an honor,” said Brinker upon receiving the award.  “To be placed in the same category with some of Michigan’s very best restaurateurs is quite humbling.”  

Brinker’s career with the Sign of the Beefcarver (known as Sign of the Beefeater in those days) began in 1967 when he took a job washing dishes for the company as a way to earn money while attending Wayne State University.  A year later, he became head cook of the Beefcarver unit.  Co-owners John Joliet and Bob LaJoie were exceptional businessmen, and Dennis took full advantage of their willingness to show him the ropes.  

“Dennis can be found at his desk every Saturday morning going over the numbers,” said MRA Executive Director Rob Gifford.  “His leadership is reflected through his expertise in financials, and his insistence on team development.”  

Brinker became president of the MRA Board of Directors in 1999 and set to work focusing the board on long-range planning and working proactively.  Dennis remains active with the MRA board, speaks out on business initiatives and legislative matters, serves as a member of the Board  of Directors of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Fund (the member-owned workers’ compensation program which has returned over $12 million to members since 1992), and embraces the MRA’s core mission to assist, represent, promote and educate the foodservice industry.  

If you ask him what his greatest accomplishments are, he will tell you they are his three children, who are successful in their own rights.  Brinker and his wife, Anne, live in Birmingham with their dog, Bailey.