News from Missouri Restaurant Association

Missouri Restaurant Weekly

Spring weather announces beginning of MRA fundraising events

As Missouri continues to enjoy more seasonal weather after a cold month of February, MRA and its affiliated chapters look forward to numerous fundraising events in the upcoming months. This tradition provides funding for a significant portion of the Association's mission of service.

The first fundraising event on the calendar, The Annual Taste of Mid-Missouri, was held this past Monday, March 16. Now in its 30th year, this event is held at the University Club of MU. It is mid-Missouri's largest scholarship fundraiser. Past scholarship recipients have celebrated their silver anniversaries in the industry.

MRA encourages you to watch our newsletter, The Missouri Restaurant Weekly for information on upcoming events, including the Greater St. Louis Trivia Night on Sunday, March 29. Flyers for all events can also be accessed on the MRA website, MoRestaurants.org.

The Association's calendar in the spring and summer months is quite busy. There will be two separate opportunities to watch the 2014 American League Champion Kansas City Royals, and two chances to catch the perennial National League pennant contending St. Louis Cardinals in action at Busch Stadium. Baseball season also provides a chance to enjoy a minor league game at beautiful Hammons Field - the home of the Springfield Cardinals, class AA affiliate of the parent club in St. Louis. You can get an early look at the stars of tomorrow.

There are plenty of opportunities to get up a golf game as well, with tournaments at beautiful courses in St. Louis, Ste. Genevieve, Kansas City, Osage Beach, and Nixa. Golfers of all skill levels compete for prizes and enjoy plenty of delicious food and refreshing beverages. Even if it turns out your team fails to card as many birdies as you envisioned, you will still leave with a generous gift bag and perhaps one of the many attendance prizes. If nothing else seems to work for you, outbid everyone on a silent auction item.

An excellent way to spend a spring or summer day or evening, MRA fundraisers are a good time for a good cause.

KC Royals Baseball Game to Benefit Restaurant PAC

Royals vs. Detroit Tigers, April 30 at 7:10 pm

Watch the Royals take on the Detroit Tigers on April 30 and help pro-business candidates running for U.S. Congress. This evening is the ultimate event for restaurant operators and fans of the American League champion Kansas City Royals.

The evening begins at 5:00 pm with a pre-game "tailgate" in a private room at V's Italiano Ristorante in Independence. Plenty of delicious food and beverages will be served. As the 7:10 game time approaches, we will head to Kauffman Stadium to enjoy the game from a private luxury suite. More food and beverage is served in the suite during the game.

A limited number of tickets are available at $300 each. To purchase tickets contact MRA CEO Bob Bonney

email - [email protected]
phone - (636) 432-9506.

Every dollar of the ticket price is forwarded to the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant PAC to help America send business-minded candidates to Washington.

In 2014, Missouri Restaurant Association was one of only a select few associations satisfying their fundraising goal as established by the NRA. Let's keep the momentum going and get off to a good start toward our 2015 goal. What a winning combination: Supporting pro-business candidates and cheering the Kansas City Royals to victory over their AL Central Division rivals!

Hospitality turnover rose in 2014

The turnover rate for employees in the restaurants and accommodations sector rose for the fourth consecutive year in 2014, though it remains relatively low in historical terms. Restaurant employee turnover is higher than the private sector due to several factors, including higher proportions of teenagers, students and part-year employees in the industry workforce, according to the NRA's chief economist Bruce Grindy.

The turnover rate in the hospitality sector rose for the fourth consecutive year in 2014, but remained below pre-recession levels, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) program.

The overall turnover rate in the restaurants and accommodations sector was 66.3 percent in 2014, up 10 percentage points from the recent low of 56.6 percent in 2010.

Despite the increase, the turnover rate remains relatively low in historical terms. In 2007, prior to the economic downturn, the turnover rate of the restaurants-and-accommodations sector was 80.9 percent. This was generally on par with turnover in the previous five years (2002-2006), when the annual rate averaged 80 percent.

In comparison, the average turnover rate for all private sector workers stood at 44.4 percent in 2014, up four percentage points from the 2010 low but still below the average turnover rate of 50 percent during the 2002 - 2006 period.

Read on for the breakdown...

"Ambush Election" rule fails Employers and Employees alike

The time employers have to respond to a move to unionize their business is about to get much shorter. Starting April 14, the National Labor Relations Board's "ambush election" rule is expected to cut the time between a petition to unionize and a vote by more than half.

"The biggest downside for employers is that they'll be denied an adequate opportunity to give employees information as to whether union membership will be valuable to the employee' said Michael Lotito, attorney and co-chair of the Workplace Policy Institute for Littler in San Francisco. "Unionization is not something to be taken lightly, and both employers and employees need sufficient time to consider the consequences."

The National Restaurant Association has joined a lawsuit by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace to block the rule from taking effect. Here are three reasons why the rule won't work for employers or employees:

#1 - Employers are at an immediate disadvantage.

The average time from the filing of a union petition to a vote whether to unionize is now 38 days, according to the NLRB. The new rule could cut that to as short as 11 days. During that period, an employer must gather and review a slew of information, including the union's constitution, bylaws, financial reports, records of strikes and numerous other documents.. Employers will also likely need to retain an attorney who specializes in labor issues and train management staff on how to respond to issues that come up during the unionization attempt. That's a significant workload even in 38 days - and nearly impossible in 11 days.

#2, #3, and how to stop the 'Ambush Election' rule here

Winter weather chills restaurant sales

Restaurant sales declined along with other major retail sectors in February, which suggests that many consumers in weather-impacted parts of the country decided to stay home. Despite the downtick, the outlook for restaurant sales growth is optimistic for the remainder of 2015, as the underlying fundamentals remain positive, according to the NRA's Chief Economist Bruce Grindy. His Economist's Notebook commentary and analysis appears regularly on Restaurant.org and Restaurant TrendMapper.

Contrary to the positive signals that were implied from the strong employment report, restaurant sales appear to have been dampened by the extreme winter weather conditions in February. According to preliminary figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, eating-and-drinking sales totaled $49.6 billion on a seasonally-adjusted basis in February, down 0.6 percent from January's volume of $49.9 billion.

Restaurant sales declined along with other major retail sectors in February, which suggests that many consumers in weather-impacted parts of the country decided to stay home. Sales at auto dealers (-2.5 percent), building supply stores (-2.3 percent), electronics and appliance stores (-1.2 percent) and department stores (-1.2 percent) all fell sharply in February.

A sunny economic climate in the forecast