NRA Chair Ken Conrad to open #LRAEXPO14

National Restaurant Association
Chair Ken Conrad will address
Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality
EXPO attendees during its opening
ceremony, August 2 at 10:45 a.m.

National Restaurant Association (NRA) Chair Ken Conrad will address the crowd and cut the ribbon to open the show at the Opening Ceremony of the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s 61^st Annual Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO, August 2 at 10:45 a.m. at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center, Hall I. 

Starting out as a cook in one of his parents’ restaurants, Marshal L. “Ken” Conrad went on to take over operations of that location, and then became the company president in 1983. Today, Conrad is chairman of Libby Hill Seafood Restaurants, a nine-location company based in Greensboro, N.C. His parents began the company in 1953 with a single restaurant.

“My family continues to own and operate Libby Hill Restaurants and I’m proud to say that my son Justin is the third generation of Conrads in the business,” said Conrad.

A former chair of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, Conrad served on its board for more than 20 years and was named Restaurateur of the Year in 2007. He has been a member of the NRA Board of Directors since 2004.

“When I joined the LRA and began to attend NRA board meetings, Ken was one of the first directors who extended to me his friendship and knowledge of the organization,” said Stan Harris, LRA President/CEO. “As I have become a Trustee of the NRA Education Foundation, this initial welcome is what has driven me to help improve the NRA enterprise and our industry. I was honored to be asked to serve on the NRA’s Strategic Planning committee by Ken as we chart the direction of the organization for the next five years.”

Conrad’s trip to New Orleans for the EXPO weekend includes several appearances, including the opening of the EXPO, speaking at the LRA Education Foundation’s Five Star Futures Gala Saturday evening, August 2 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside and a presentation to the LRA Board of Directors.

“I’ve visited New Orleans five times or so and am looking forward to my trip for the EXPO,” Conrad said. “I own seafood restaurants in North Carolina and coming to a great seafood city like New Orleans is a wonderful treat for me and my family. It’s also great to walk through the French Quarter and find a place for red beans and rice where I can people watch. I love Drago’s charbroiled oysters.”

His description of New Orleans is one of admiration for its grandeur, graciousness and beauty—a real jewel of the South, with such a rich heritage. He shared that he has always received a warm and welcoming reception during his visits and commented, “I’ve heard it said that in other cities, people ask about who you know and what you do for a living, but in New Orleans people ask where you ate last and what you had. The food is exceptional. As a lifetime restaurateur, it’s my kind of place.”

LRA announces 2014 award recipients, Restaurateurs of the Year

The Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA) is pleased to announce this year’s Restaurateurs of the Year, Hall of Fame Inductees, Associate Member and Advocate of the Year. The honorees will be recognized at the Five Star Futures Gala, Saturday, August 2, 2014, 6:30 p.m. in the Napoleon Ballroom, Hilton New Orleans Riverside, an event benefiting the LRA Education Foundation (LRAEF).

The 2014 Restaurateurs of the Year are Peter Sclafani and Ruffin Rodrigue of Ruffino’s Restaurants in Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Ruffino’s is a collaborative effort between Rodrigue, a former LSU lineman, and Sclafani, a New Orleans-native third generation chef. Ruffino’s has extended their brand with Ruffino’s on the River in Lafayette and recently added an expanded focus on group business by opening Ruffino’s at De La Ronde Hall in downtown Baton Rouge. Sclafani serves on the LRA Education Foundation Board, LRA Board, is Baton Rouge Chapter president and is an advocate for the LRAEF ProStart Program. Sclafani and Rodrigue are great philanthropists in the Baton Rouge community supporting numerous fundraising activities for civic and non-profit endeavors.

The 2014 Hall of Fame Inductees are the Marino Family of Gino’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge. Each year, the LRA recognizes a member who has given faithful, dedicated and outstanding service to the association by inducting him or her into the LRA Hall of Fame. This year, the Marino Family will be inducted. Gino’s Restaurant has been a staple of the Baton Rouge restaurant community for nearly 50 years, established in 1966 by Vincent, Grace aka “Mama,” Gino, Laurence and Frances. The Marino family originated in Agrigento, Sicily and immigrated to the United States in 1951. With the exception of patriarch Vincent, who passed in 1970, Gino’s remains 100 percent family owned and operated. From its first day in operation, the kitchen has been supervised by “Mama,” now in her 90s and Gino likes to say “she comes with the furniture.” Mama was honored as a 2014 inductee into the Baton Rouge Business Report Hall of Fame.

The 2014 Associate Member of the Year is Mickey Freiberg, Sales Manager of Capitol City Produce. The Associate Member of the Year award recognizes restaurant industry suppliers who display exceptional dedication to and support of the LRA. Freiberg is a member of the LRA Board of Directors and also serves on the LRA Baton Rouge Chapter Board of Directors. Through Freiberg’s LRA involvement, Capitol City Produce has exhibited in the LRA’s Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO for more than 24 years, supported the LRAEF’s ProStart Program and numerous LRA Chapter fundraising activities and events.  

The 2014 Advocate of Year is Representative Erich Ponti, District 69, and chair of the Louisiana House Commerce Committee. The Advocate of the Year is presented to recognize an individual who has supported the advocacy efforts of the LRA and its partner industries. Representative Ponti is a contractor and has worked closely with the LRA Advocacy team to promote good public policy that benefits our industry.

The Five Star Futures Gala will also recognize 30 culinary and hospitality recipients who will be presented with $61,000 from the LRAEF Scholarship Fund. The fund was established in 2009 to assist individuals in pursuit of their culinary arts and restaurant management college level education. To date, the LRAEF Scholarship Fund has awarded more than $200,000 in scholarships to nearly 80 students.

The 2014 LRA Education Foundation Board of Directors would like to thank the Gala Sponsors—Ben E. Keith Co., Crescent Crown Distributing, Hilton New Orleans Riverside, MMI/Mr. Mudbug Catering, Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, Reinhart Food Service, Sysco Food Services New Orleans and TLC Linen Services. Special thanks to LRAEF Annual Partners—Five Diamond: Acme Oyster House, Auto-Chlor Services, Louisiana Hospitality Foundation, Louisiana Restaurant Association and Louisiana Seafood. Four Diamond: Performance Foodservice-Caro. Three Diamond: ATMOS Energy, Camellia Brand, Drago’s Seafood Restaurant, Louisiana Culinary Institute, New Orleans Wine and Food Experience and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. Two Diamond—Louisiana Gas Association, Chef Paul Prudhomme’s “Sea of Hope,” and Whole Foods Market. One Diamond—Entergy.

Sponsorships and tickets for the Five Star Futures Gala are available at www.lraef.org or by calling Alice Glenn at (504) 454-2277. 

Come for work, stay for play at the 61st Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO

The perfect business trip awaits! The 61^st Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO is August 2-4, 2014, will be here in the blink of an eye. Themed, “Opportunities Abound,” your EXPO weekend will be filled with numerous chances to increase your profitability, gain valuable knowledge and meet with your peers, old and new. Aisles and aisles of companies that supply the foodservice industry will be there waiting to dazzle you with the latest in technological advances, equipment, services, food products and beverage options.

It really doesn’t get much easier to gather industry intel than during the three days of the EXPO. If you had to research it on your own, it’d surely take months, even years, and who has time for that? That’s the reason the Louisiana Restaurant Association offers this benefit to the industry.

After you've gotten the most from your EXPO experience during the daytime, take a quick respite at the host hotel—the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, with the special EXPO rate of $99 per night—and get ready for New Orleans’ nightlife. Surely after a day at the EXPO, you’ll be starving for our world-famous cuisine in one of our countless restaurant dining rooms. The choices are limitless and we’ll be happy to make some recommendations or you can visit the LRA’s travel page courtesy of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau here.

If you can stand the humidity, Saturday night don your white linen attire and head out to Julia Street for Whitney White Linen Night, where 20,000+ attend the outdoor festival celebrating the arts. 

If you're like us and prefer to keep your make up and attire intact, join us indoors with air conditioning, cuisine and cocktails for the Five Star Futures Gala, August 2 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. We’ll honor this year’s remarkable Louisiana industry leaders and award $60,000 in scholarships to Louisiana’s deserving young culinarians. The event features a live and silent auction and a cork pull, and it all benefits the LRA Education Foundation.

To see the full EXPO line up, visit our website here. Register to attend the EXPO today here. 

Thank you to this year’s Platinum Sponsors!

Heartland Payment Systems, Louisiana Cookin’, Capital One, Republic National Distributing Company, UnitedHealthcare, Glazer’s of Louisiana, Louisiana Restaurant Association Self Insurer’s Fund and the LRA Education Foundation.

Gold Sponsor—Midlands, Generations Hall & Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses; and Silver Sponsors—Fisher & Phillips, LLP and Johnson, Johnson, Barrios & Yacoubian.

LRA Chair David Hearn wants to see you at the EXPO!

It’s that time of year again! I’m pleased to announce that the Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA) will celebrate the 60^th Anniversary of the Louisiana Foodservice and Hospitality EXPO, August 3-5, 2013. To commemorate this incredible milestone, this year’s theme is “A Toast to Talent,” and we’ll pay tribute to our industry’s leaders throughout the weekend. 

For three days, our industry has the run of Halls I-J of the New Orleans Convention Center to shop hundreds of product and service companies waiting to share their ideas, innovations and information. The EXPO is designed specifically for our industry to help you become a more profitable and efficient operator. It is one of the best benefits of your LRA membership.

Chef Cody Carroll
competes in the
Great American
Seafood Cookoff
August 3.

Back for the second year is the Idea Zone, located right on the show floor. These express presentations will provide you with valuable information to help you become more profitable, success and inspired. Topics range from perfect pairings of beef and wine, health care reform, building guest loyalty, gluten free menus, sparkling wines and turning menu favorites into healthy options and others. On Monday, the LRA SIF will host its annual Safety Seminar for those workers’ comp participants needing to meet their annual safety dividend criteria.

Chef Cody Carroll of Hot Tails Restaurant in New Roads will represent Louisiana in the Great American Seafood Cookoff. Read about his education, influences and Louisiana seafood inspired dish in the upcoming issue of A La Carte magazine and here at the LRA Blog.

The LRA Education Foundation will host its annual “Five Star Futures Gala,” Saturday, August 3, at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Riverside. Special guests NRA Chairman Phil Hickey and this year’s Restaurateur of the Year will join guests in honoring this year’s deserving recipients of more than $50,000 in culinary and restaurant management scholarships. Purchase your tickets here!

I look forward to seeing you in New Orleans the first weekend of August.

 

Ps. Book your room at the Headquarter Hotel, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside before July 10 and receive the special $94 rate with the code LRA EXPO. Call 504-561-0500.

Chef Frank Brigtsen inducted into the LRA Hall of Fame

Chef Frank Brigtsen is inducted into
the LRA's Hall of Fame, Aug. 11 at
the Five Star Futures Gala.
Photo by: Allyson O'Keefe

In the restaurant and hospitality industry, encountering genuinely kind chefs, owners and staff is really rather common. After all, we are in the business to entertain, accommodate and serve. However, when the decision came to determine which individual was to be inducted in the Louisiana Restaurant Association’s Hall of Fame this year, one man stood above the rest—Frank Brigtsen.

“His commitment to our industry and his focus on using local seafood and other ingredients separates his restaurants from many others,” said Melvin Rodrigue, 2012 LRA Chairman. “He gives of his time to the next generation of chefs and managers, even employing Louisiana ProStart graduates in his kitchens.”

A James Beard award-winning chef, Brigtsen was honored at the Five Star Future’s Gala at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside, August 12, in front of 400 industry leaders, restaurateurs, chefs, managers and the 2012 class of scholarship recipients.

An individual with a heart of gold and a passion for serving his guests, Brigtsen is a tribute to hard work and creativity. Along with his wife Marna, they own Brigtsen’s Restaurant and Charlie’s Seafood where the menu changes each day.

Brigtsen’s acceptance speech was moving and sincere. In it he said, “Every time I put on my chef coat, I’m putting on 250 years of Louisiana’s proud culinary traditions and legacy. It’s my job to give back and that’s why I cook, serve and teach. I’m particularly proud that one of my students is a recipient of a general hospitality scholarship from the LRA Education Foundation.”

He shared his story of how he entered the restaurant industry during his speech.

“I was broke with no job, living at home with my mom,” he said. “I was looking through the classifieds and saw a Commander’s Palace ad looking for Creole cooks or individuals willing to be trained in the Creole traditions.”

Brigtsen apprenticed at Commander’s Palace under the guidance of Chef Paul Prudhomme. In 1980, he became the first Night Chef at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen when the restaurant began dinner service and during his seven year tenure was promoted to Executive Chef. Paul and his late wife were instrumental in helping the Brigtsen’s open their restaurant in 1986.

In 1988, Food & Wine magazine named him, “One of America’s Top 10 New Chefs,” and New Orleans magazine named him the Chef of the Year in 1994. In 1998, Brigtsen received the James Beard Award of “American Express Best Chef: Southeast.  

Past inductees into the LRA’s Hall of Fame include: Al Copeland Sr., Archie Casbarian, Ralph Brennan, Dickie Brennan, Ella Brennan and Charles Goodson.

Five Star Futures Gala, a “star-studded” evening

Louisiana’ restaurant and hospitality industries will convene August 11 for an evening to recognize today’s industry leaders and support the education of the next generation. The Hilton Riverside Grand Ballroom will be decked with beautiful spring bouquets, libations and world-class cuisine and all to benefit the Louisiana Restaurant AssociationEducation Foundation’s Scholarship Fund.

“We are looking forward to raising funds for our Scholarship Program and awareness of some of our industry’s most philanthropic members,” said Melvin Rodrigue, LRA Chairman. “To make the evening even more special, the National Restaurant Association Chairwoman Roz Mallet will join us.”

LRA Chair Melvin Rodrigue will
name the restaurant industry's high
award winners during the Five Star
Futures Gala, August 12.

Throughout the program, Guest Auctioneer Mark Romig of the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp will get the bidding started on great packages like round trip airfare, charter fishing trips, duck hunts and multi-course meals—one by Chef Susan Spicer of Bayona and Mondo. Guests will have the opportunity to bid on four tickets to the New Orleans Saints season opener September 9 and VIP amenities at the Hyatt Regency.

The event also features a Cork Pull. Members of the LRA donated a bottle of wine to the Cork Pull to increase contributions to the Scholarship Fund.



National Restaurant Assoc.
Chair Roz Mallet will be
the special guest of honor
at the Five Stars
Future Gala.

“Having a Cork Pull at our event affords our members various giving levels throughout the evening,” said Alice Glenn, Executive Director, LRAEF. “We are extremely thankful to all our members who have contributed to the success of the Five Star Futures Gala.”

Fourteen students will be awarded a total of $40,000 in scholarships during the opening portion of the program. It is with support of the Gala sponsors and the annual ProStart Partners that the foundation is able to award these funds, and for the second year in a row.

“During the latter part of the program, we will announce the LRA’s top award recipients, the Advocate of the Year, Associate Member of the Year and the Restaurateur of the Year,” said Stan Harris, President/CEO, LRA. “We will also induct a beloved member of the New Orleans restaurant community into the LRA’s Hall of Fame.”

A few tickets are still available! If you are interested in attendees this “star-studded” event, please call Alice Glenn at (504) 454-2277 or email aglenn@lra.org today!