GRA Weekly

April 21, 2022

This week's newsletter is brought to you by GRA Corporate Partner, Atmosphere.

LET'S PLAY!

GRA IN THE NEWS

CBS Face the Nation

Face the Nation - (CBS) ....And what impact will the war on Ukraine have on the world's food supply? We will talk with the head of the United Nations' World Food Program, David Beasley, and take a look at yet another jump in the inflation rate here in the U.S. Will our food and gas prices go even higher? Watch here.

Historic inflation forcing Georgia restaurants to raise prices, close

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - Georgia restaurants are facing their next major problem. Rising costs are now eating away at their bottom line. The president of the Georgia Restaurant Association predicts another 3,000 restaurants could close by the end of 2022. Owners are now being forced to raise menu prices an average of 10% in order to turn a profit. The French restaurant named Atmosphere has served customers for more than 20 years. However, they were forced to sell their business last month. It’s becoming a common theme around town as inflation is taking its toll on many businesses. Keep reading.

FEDERAL UPDATES

Congress Intensifies ERTC Pressure

A bipartisan group of 13 representatives and Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) pleaded with the Internal Revenue Service last week to postpone tax enforcement for small businesses facing significant upfront tax liabilities due to the agency’s backlog of unprocessed 2021 Employee Retention Tax Credit payments. As of this month, the IRS reported 1.9M unprocessed 941 forms and 324K unprocessed 941X forms—down from 2.6M and 390K, respectively, in late February.

DOL Steps Up Wage Protection Enforcement

In response to President Biden’s Executive Order 13985 “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” the Department of Labor released last week its equity plan, which prioritizes stronger enforcement of the country’s wage-and-hour protections and improving the federal-state Unemployment Insurance system, among other objectives.

Labor Board Could Revive ‘Card Check’

National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo requested last week that the Board reinstate the 1949 Joy Silk Mills standard. Doing so would allow the Board to designate a union through the informal card-check process, where employees sign cards of support to unionize rather than participate in an official election. Currently, employers can voluntarily acknowledge a union through the card-check process but are not required to do so. If the Board revives the decades-old standard, employers could not refuse to bargain unless they can demonstrate clear evidence against a union’s majority.

EEOC Announces Opening of 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection

The EEO-1 Component 1 report is a mandatory annual data collection that requires all private sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting certain criteria, to submit workforce demographics including data by race/ethnicity, sex, and job categories. Deadline to Submit and Certify Reports is May 17, 2022.

For more information on the EEOC's announcement and filing guidance, read more.

DOL Overtime Rules & Regulations

DOL has now announced additional virtual Overtime listening sessions for May and June 2022, for both worker and employer stakeholders. These sessions are organized by region.

Click here to sign up for these listening sessions.

NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION SHOW

National Restaurant Show May 2022

The National Restaurant Association Show is back—and are here to help. Join your peers from across the foodservice industry in Chicago on May 21-24, 2022, and discover exciting new products, interact with innovative new equipment, create business connections with key suppliers, access expert-led education sessions on today’s biggest topics, and make invaluable peer-to-peer networking connections.

For foodservice professionals seeking new and better ways to operate their establishments, grow their customer base, broaden their networks, and increase their success. With representation from all 50 states and 110 countries, there’s no other place to interact with the entire foodservice industry ecosystem.

GRA/National Restaurant Association members are eligible to receive one complimentary badge to the NRA Show. You are required to use your National Restaurant Association member ID and last name to access this complimentary badge. To obtain your NRA membership number, please contact us at info@garestaurants.org.

IMPROVING THE GUEST EXPERIENCE

How to improve the guest experience with fewer staff members? We have a guide for that.

When customers have to wait longer than expected for service, it leaves them bored. And boredom leads to frustration, which means cranky guests. If this sounds familiar, download our guide for practical tips on how to create a better guest experience, even with fewer staff members.

Here's one tip you can get started on today:

Play TV that reduces perceived wait times.

Atmosphere's high-impact content is built to fit any business and any mood. We're here to help fight boredom with an entertainment solution that takes guests' minds off the wait.

Home to CHIVE TV, our channels consist of 50+ family-friendly options, including Red Bull TV, AFV TV, HAPPY TV. And now introducing TikTok TV, a channel that brings the best of the internet to your venue.

All of our content refreshes weekly and it's provided at no cost in exchange for advertising that runs within programming.

Find out why Atmosphere is already at work in more than 19,000 venues in 20 countries around the world.

Download the Free Guide.