LRA announces 2014 Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO theme

If you’ve exhibited in, sponsored or attended the Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO, you are aware of all the exciting opportunities that exist those three days on the show floor. The projected growth in Louisiana’s hospitality industry is attributed to the mix of the number of new restaurants opening, increased visitors to the state and emerging companies.

The 2014 EXPO theme, “Opportunities Abound” captures the momentum of the industry’s growth AND your potential as an exhibitor, sponsor or attendee. 

Exhibitors in the 2013 EXPO had a 100 percent satisfaction rating, according to the 2013  post-event survey and 76.5 percent of respondents indicated that they were planning to exhibit in 2014. The number one reason they exhibit in the EXPO is to attract new customers, followed by meeting with current customers, company exposure and to showcase a new product. 

“If you exhibit or attend, you know how helpful the EXPO is to your business,” said Stan Harris, President/CEO, Louisiana Restaurant Association. “As a former restaurateur for nearly 30 years, a time-saving event like this is invaluable and convenient to a company or an attendee.” 

Attendees shared their feedback in their own post-2013 EXPO survey and ranked the opportunity to meet with so many companies face-to-face and in one place as the number one benefit of the EXPO. Trying new food products, learning about new services and informative discussions about restaurant operations best practices were just a few comments given indicating that attending the EXPO was time well spent. 

The 61^st Annual Louisiana Foodservice & Hospitality EXPO will be held August 2-4, 2014 in New Orleans. Visit the LRA EXPO website to find out what you need to know about exhibiting, sponsoring or attending.

 

Front of the house food allergens training is key to serving guests safely

By Wendy Waren, VP of Communications, Louisiana Restaurant Association

Since last week’s National Food Safety Month article, I’ve dined out with my co-worker with a gluten allergy. Her food allergy awareness is always top of mind at a restaurant and since I dine with her, it is for me as well. 

 

In preparation for our lunch meeting, I called ahead to let them know that a member of our party had a gluten allergy. In a perfect world, that call would have triggered a series of events that would have led to a really enjoyable dining experience. 

 

She notified the server who took our drink order that she had a gluten allergy. Another server came to take our order. When the questions about gluten-free options started flying, the second server didn’t have the knowledge and rushed off to the kitchen for answers. At this time, the first server returned and gave a rundown of what was gluten-free. 

 

“Try the chicken. It’s fantastic and gluten free,” the first server urged.

 

When the entrees were presented, my co-worker noticed that the garnish was flash fried and her entrée had to be removed. Again, there was confusion from a different server who questioned whether or not the entrée would be able to be eaten if just the garnish was removed. 

 

In Week 3 of National Food Safety Month, we’re exploring cross-contact and the front of the house operations. After taking the new ServSafe Allergens online course, I have a whole new appreciation for the front of the house staff’s role in serving guests safely with food allergies.  

 

Remember, cross-contact occurs when one food comes in contact with another food, and their proteins mix. It can also occur when the same equipment and utensils are used to prepare or serve food, such as scooping pine nuts, then raisins with the same spoon. 

 

Cross-contact can happen easily in the front of the house, especially if surfaces aren’t cleaned carefully. There are several things that you can do to keep your customers who have food allergies safe: 

• Even if a table was cleaned after the last guest seating, there may still be allergens on the surfaces. Start by removing utensils and other items from the table and then clean and sanitize it. Use a disposal paper towel, not the same cloth used previously. 
• Salt and pepper shakers, other condiments and sugar and sweetener packages can also be a source of cross-contact. They should be cleaned or removed from the table entirely. 
• Laminated menus should be cleaned on a regular basis. Guests with food allergies may also request to have them cleaned and sanitized upon arrival. 
• Work stations should be cleaned just as carefully as other areas to prevent cross-contact.

Following our meal, the chef made his rounds and visited our table. I walked back to the kitchen with him to let him know what we had experienced. He shared that there had been no communication with the kitchen about my co-workers food allergy and apologized profusely.

We took all the proper steps to ensure that the meal served was in fact gluten free, but the front of the house staff’s lack of communication with the kitchen resulted in a dining experience fraught with near misses and apologies.

ServSafe Allergens online training course is just $22 and the knowledge I gained was invaluable. The benefit for restaurant staff—both front and back of the house—saves time, wasted meals and possible negative publicity for any establishment.

Visit www.foodallergens.com to learn more.

 

LRA SIF rewards claims free track records

For 15 years, safety dividends and safety awards have been distributed to Louisiana Restaurant Association Self Insurer’s Fund (LRA SIF) members. Those who had a loss ratio that didn’t exceed 50 percent, attended a safety seminar or webinar and implemented a written safety program received a dividend in December. In addition, safety awards are distributed annually to members who have filed no claims during the entire previous year, which many of them display in their establishments as a point of pride.

Stan Harris
LRA SIF
President/CEO

“Seventy-four percent of LRA SIF members met the challenge and received a safety award this year,” said Stan Harris, LRA SIF President/CEO. “It is evident that the majority of LRA SIF members promote and provide a safe working environment for their staff.”

Updates to LRA SIF safety dividend criteria began this year. Given the resounding success of the use of the Second Injury Board Knowledge Questionnaire to recover claims costs for pre-existing injuries, the LRA SIF Board of Trustees voted to make it mandatory in 2013 as part of our safety dividend requirements for members to have this questionnaire completed for all of its employees.

As part of your new hire orientation, this will help identify in writing any pre-existing conditions that if known, may result in the Second Injury Fund covering a significant portion of a claim that ultimately can impact your workers’ comp rates.

Having a post-accident drug and alcohol testing policy can certainly reduce your workers’ comp exposure. Say you have an employee who gets high and then turns around and cuts his finger while using the meat slicer. If you have a post-accident drug and alcohol testing policy in place and the employee tests positive in excess of the limits, the employer may not be fully responsible for the entire claims costs.

Effective Jan. 1 2013, to receive a safety dividend, you must meet all five of the criteria which include:

• Loss ratio must not exceed 50 percent
• Written company safety program
• Attendance at annual safety seminar or webinar

• Second Injury Board Knowledge Questionnaire on file for every new employee; and

• Written post-accident drug and alcohol testing policy in place for every employee and used.

Want to get started or make sure you’re eligible for your safety dividend? Contact your LRA Sales Representative or the LRA SIF Loss Prevention Dept. at 504-454-2277.

Don’t have your workers’ compensation coverage through the LRA SIF? Why not? For more than 30 years, the LRA SIF has provided workers’ compensation to the hospitality industry. Call us today to get a quote—you could start saving money tomorrow!

Oct. 1 Employee Notification of Health Care Marketplaces approaching

The National Restaurant Association has launched a new tool to help restaurateurs notify employees about new government-run health insurance marketplaces. Restaurant members of the Louisiana Restaurant Association can use this tool at no charge as they implement the notification process.

SPECIAL NRA NOTIFICATION TOOL WEBINAR--Sept. 12, 1-2 p.m. Register here.

The online employee-notification tool, available at Restaurant.org/Notify, is designed to help employers meet an Oct. 1 federal deadline to notify employees about government-run health insurance exchanges.

“As changes begin to unfold under the health care law in the coming weeks and months, the Louisiana Restaurant Association will continue share valuable information and tools available to help our members navigate the complexities of the law,” said Stan Harris, LRA President/CEO. “The NRA’s new online notification tool is a great benefit of being a member of the LRA.”  

The online tool is available exclusively to NRA restaurant members as a benefit of membership. If you are a restaurant member of the LRA, you are automatically a member of the NRA through our dual membership program.

Among other provisions, the health care law creates a new section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that require employers to provide existing employees with basic information about exchanges by Oct. 1, including letting employees know they may be eligible for federal tax subsidies to buy health plans through exchanges. The mandate applies to all employers covered by the FLSA. Starting in 2014, employers will be required to provide employees with the FLSA notice within 14 days of hiring, according to the Department of Labor.

Exchanges are set to open in every state on Oct. 1 to begin offering millions of Americans new options for buying health insurance for 2014.

The National Restaurant Association’s Notification Tool offers online registration that guides an employer through the law’s required information process so that all employees can be properly notified when they access the site.

“Members who register to use the tool can create online portals to tell their employees about exchanges, track which employees they’ve notified, and keep on- and offline records to document which employees have received the notice,” Harris added.

The Notification Tool is part of the National Restaurant Association’s Health Care Reform Headquarters. The one-stop shop offers NRA members information about how the law affects restaurant businesses, including a Health Care Law Primer that covers key aspects of the law for restaurant employers. The Health Care Reform Headquarters will later offer a marketplace to help restaurant employers and employees shop for Affordable Care Act-compliant health plans.

Gulf Seafood Institute becomes reality with $20k grant from Ocean Conservancy

Recognizing the need for an integrated group dedicated to science and education in the Gulf, the Ocean Conservancy has pledged $20,000 in seed money for a new organization, Gulf Seafood Institute (GSI), whose vision is to establish a close working relationship with the entire Gulf’s environmental and seafood organizations.

Harvesters and processors; distributors and retailers; chefs and restaurants; academia and environmental governmental and non-governmental organizations all have a unique stake in the Gulf’s environment and the sustainability of the seafood it produces. 

According to Harlon Pearce, owner of New Orleans Harlon’s LA Fish and former Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board chairman, “there is no one group that has an outreach to all these varied interests.”   His new vision is the Gulf Seafood Institute.

Five board members of the new Gulf Seafood Institute
recently attended the Gulf of Mexico Fishery
Management Council in San Antonio. Jim Gossen,
Chairman of Sysco Louisiana Seafoods in Houston, TX;
David Krebs, president and owner of Ariel Seafoods in Destin, FL;
Harlon Pearce, owner of Harlon’s LA Fish in New Orleans;
Johnny Greene, a Gulf Shore, AL sport-fishing captain;
 and Pat Riley, general manager of Western Seafood in Freeport, TX.

“With so much on the line after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico should be working together to build bridges and solve problems,” said Elizabeth Fetherston, deputy director of the Ocean Conservancy’s Fish Conservation Program.  “There are many voices currently speaking for various aspects of the Gulf, the leadership of the GSI has the experience to bring these voices together for the benefit of all.”

Uniting the seafood communities of five Gulf States, the institute’s mission will be to protect the Gulf’s unique culture and environment while elevating the Gulf Seafood brand with consumers, customers and policy leaders through advocacy, education and science.

“A number of Gulf States don’t have a strong presence advocating the management and use of Gulf’s sustainable resources,” said Jim Gossen, chairman of Texas-based Sysco, Louisiana Seafood and a GSI board member. “It is important, now more than ever, for stakeholders from every state having an interest in the Gulf to come together as one unified voice to ensure the continuance of the unique Gulf Coast and its fishing culture.”

Stan Harris, President/CEO, Louisiana Restaurant Association
and Gulf Seafood Institute board member.

With an influential board of directors from across the Gulf, the organization is positioning itself to be a leading advocate on behalf of the Gulf seafood community with federal and state policymakers on key issues impacting our industry.

“There is currently a large void in advocacy from existing Gulf seafood interests; this gap has paved the way for the creation of the Gulf Seafood Institute,” said GSI board member Stan Harris, President/CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association. “The institute will leverage the strength of grassroots stakeholders with our relationships with Congress and the Administration to ensure focus on the key issues.”

The board has identified five immediate issues of concern across the region:

• Gulf seafood safety: Recent consumer research indicates there is a continued need for the federal government to communicate with consumers about the safety and wholesomeness of Gulf seafood products.
• H-2B visas: Recent federal actions threaten the viability of the H-2B visa program. We must preserve the H-2B visa program for seafood businesses that utilize temporary foreign workers to fill the most labor-intensive positions in the industry.
• Stock assessments: NOAA must place more emphasis on conducting more frequent and robust, peer-reviewed fisheries stock assessments in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Disaster mitigation and recovery: Maintain close relationships with key decision makers at the federal level so that a comprehensive relief response is immediate following any future fisheries disasters.
• Crop insurance: Coverage for Gulf seafood commodities may stabilize the industry and protect family incomes from disasters both natural and manmade.

Increasing fisheries science and research throughout the Gulf region that will contribute to the preservation of the resource and the longevity of the industry will be a priority of the organization.

What you don't know may make your guests ill



By Wendy Waren, VP of Communications, Louisiana Restaurant Association

Just this week, a friend of mine with a gluten allergy shared with me that she prepared a rice mix product for dinner that she thought was safe. Later that night she was so sick she thought she’d have to go to the emergency room. She found the package and while the ingredients list didn’t indicate a problem, a quick Google search revealed that the foreign rice mix may indeed contain wheat.

One of the most important things to do to prevent allergic reactions is to read the labels. The FDA requires that it be clearly identified on the label if a food item includes one or more of the Big 8 Allergens. For restaurants, reading labels is a vital step in the process of serving guests safely.

The labeling is acceptable if the common or usual name of an ingredient appears in the ingredients list. So if the ingredient is “buttermilk,” then it’s clear it contains the major food allergen “milk.” But sometimes it’s not so clear, and then the allergen’s food-source name has to be shown at least once on the food label. There are a couple of ways to do this: First, the label might list the common name of the allergen in parenthesis after its less common name and second, is a list of all allergens contained in the product in a single statement or a “contains” statement.

Allergens may also be hiding in labels under unfamiliar names. For example, milk may also be referred to as casein, lactoferrin or whey and eggs may be referred to as albumin, lysozyme or surimi.

With several friends and colleagues being diagnosed with a gluten allergy or sensitivity, I’ve really gotten a crash course in dining out with these types of challenges. Until I took the new ServSafe Allergens online course, I thought I had a solid handle on things, but I was wrong.

September is National Food Safety Month and this year’s theme is “Avoid a Reaction by Taking Action.” Food allergies go far beyond gluten or peanuts, and 90 percent of all Americans with them are allergic to one or more of what’s referred to as the Big 8, covered here.

National Food Safety Month-Week 2

This reading labels activity contains a list of the Big 8 and the unfamiliar names you may encounter. The activity sheet is really helpful particularly in the receiving area of a restaurant and for use in determining which food items containing allergens need to be separated from non-allergen foods.

A tragic story made national news this summer regarding the severity of peanut allergies in some children. A 13-year-old girl at a camp in California died because she ate a Rice Krispie treat she had no idea contained peanuts. Her last words to her mother were, “Mom, I’m sorry.” With 15 million Americans with food allergies and stories like this, now is the time to educate yourself and your staff.

Get your Alcohol Server Permit online for the first time in Louisiana

For years, if you needed a Responsible Vendor Permit, or a bar card, you had to go to a class and take it in person. The process went something like this: find a class, register, clear your schedule, drive there, pay, take the course, take the test and get your permit mailed a few weeks later.

Now, thanks to the efforts of the National and Louisiana Restaurant Associations, ServSafe Alcohol, online server training has arrived, for the first time, in the Bayou State! It’s convenient, interactive, state-approved, available 24/7 and costs just $30.

Restaurant servers, bartenders, and convenience and grocery store cashiers must have an alcohol server permit according to Louisiana law. A permit is good for four years, before it expires and the server has to repeat the course.

Videos, case studies and quizzes help you retain the lessons during the 2-3 hour ServSafe Alcohol course, which can be taken anywhere you have internet access and a PC.

From the alcohol content of wine, beer and spirits, how alcohol is absorbed in the body and then leaves the body, to the factors that affect someone’s blood alcohol content (BAC), servers will gain the knowledge needed to serve alcohol safely and responsibly.

Communication is a big focus of the ServSafe Alcohol online training course and is the responsibility of all employees—managers, doorstaff, valets, security staff, servers and bartenders. It’s the central theme throughout the training and staff communications can reduce intoxication, altercations and accidents.

Permits are issued by the Louisiana Office of Alcohol Tobacco Control and once you’ve passed the course, your printable ServSafe Alcohol Certificate is acceptable until your permit is received. 

This is the online approved online course in Louisiana! Visit www.laserverpermit.com to learn more or take your course today.