Serving Memphis: the Memphis Restaurant Association.

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One industry in the U.S. stands out above all the others for containing the largest number of individuals who at one time or another in their lives have been employees--the restaurant industry. Why are so many people drawn to this industry? It is romantic, creative, active, and fun-filled. It is one of few industries where an employee can enter at the bottom with no skills and leave at the top highly successful. Knowing how to cook is not even a prerequisite for being successful in this industry! It requires leadership, tenacity, hard work, flexibility, and a true love for people and the foods that tantalize them.

How many times have you heard someone say, "One day I'm going to own my own restaurant"? Unfortunately for those who try, 90 percent of the ventures are unsuccessful. One of the goals of the Memphis Restaurant Association (MRA) is to prevent these failures. The MRA was founded in 1947 as a chapter of the Tennessee Restaurant Association (TRA) to form an alliance among restaurant owners to protect the food industry from unfair legislation and taxation and to provide a network of information through its membership. The Memphis chapter was the largest and strongest of the 11 TRA chapters. In the late 1960s, the MRA broke away from the TRA in what began as a grassroots effort by some industrious and illustrious restaurant owners (Charlie Vergos, The Rendezvous; Herbert Anderton, Anderton's Seafood Restaurant & Oyster Bar; and Spiros Zapatos, The Arcade; to name a few) to allow liquor by the drink in the middle of the Bible Belt. Now, the MRA has grown into an over 450-member-strong association that is active and virile in the Memphis community. With opportunities through the World Wide Web, the MRA is reaching beyond Memphis to promote and showcase to the world the many great Memphis restaurants.

The MRA sponsors events such as Feed the Need, Soup Sunday, and Zoo Rendezvous to bring about awareness of the many great restaurants in Memphis and the many charitable projects for which MRA raises funds. MRA members raise millions of dollars for the Memphis community for the charities supported, projects sponsored, and gift certificates given gratis.

The MRA keeps its members up-to-date on industry trends; safe food handling, preparation, and service practices; legislation that affects the industry; and Health Department changes and procedures. The MRA promotes its restaurants through publications such as Dining Out in Memphis, which lists all MRA members and gives a description of each restaurant, locality and cuisines guides, and a map of the greater Memphis area (also available on-line). The MRA offers gift certificates that can be used at many restaurants throughout the city. It has a monthly newsletter, TIPS, with informative, up-to-date information. MRA associate members are listed biannually in the TIPS newsletter, both alphabetically and by products and services provided. The Association strives to provide in-depth information on new or changing legislation, works closely with the Memphis & Shelby County Health Department and the Code Department to keep restaurants safe, and serves as a liaison for restaurants with questions or problems.

At www.memphisrestaurants.com, surfers will find an array of services, ranging from the Dining Out in Memphis guide to community and industry links. An individual can view services and products available from associate members, purchase gift certificates, look for specific restaurants, or do a search by cuisine or location; go to the archives and find articles from the monthly newsletter; or find out what is going on in the city and see what events the MRA is sponsoring at the time.

With billions of dollars being spent on the war in Iraq, soaring gas prices, erratic weather affecting crops, and supplies of feed for livestock being circumnavigated to biofuel products, it is imperative for restaurateurs to take stock of and closely examine their business habits. Key elements to this checklist are customer satisfaction, quality food, and good dollar value, which are all easily accomplished as long as the proper checks and balances are in place.

Customer satisfaction starts at home, and a key part of this satisfaction is communication with employees, who are the link to making the customer happy. Getting feedback from employees and letting them know they are being heard by keeping them informed and empowered benefits everyone. Quality food and good dollar value start with good controls. Regularly checking the prices of products purchased, keeping an eye on store inventory; and costing out food items are simple standard procedures that smart restaurateurs use on a daily and weekly basis. Laziness about adhering to such simple rules will only lead to trouble for a restaurant owner.

So, what's ahead? Organics, locally grown produce, and lighter, healthier options are hot trends right now. But, don't be fooled into thinking people don't want to splurge when they go out. Memphians will never give up their barbecue, and French fries are a mainstay across the nation. Comfort foods are still a hot item. From chicken pot pie to a hearty pot roast, busy business professionals and working morns delight in a good "home-cooked" meal they don't have time to prepare for themselves.

These comfort foods bring to mind fast, casual restaurants and home replacement meals. In a world where we can talk, e-mail, surf the Internet, and send photos and videos--all from our phone--there is little time left for grocery shopping, food prep, and cooking a hot dinner for the family. Customers want fast, reasonably-priced meals at restaurants that accommodate a family. Statistics show that almost "49 percent of every U.S. food dollar is spent on food eaten outside the home, including take-out meals ..." (1)

More and more people are ordering meals prepared outside the home and delivered weekly. Or, they are going to commissaries that offer pre-prepped ingredients that allow consumers to put together three to four separate meals to be finished in the oven at home for the upcoming week, without the grocery shopping or prep work.

Two pieces of legislation are having major effects on the restaurant industry in Memphis. The first is the no-smoking legislation that went into effect in October 2007. According to the Tennessee Restaurant Association, the transition is going smoothly across the state. However, here in Memphis, the story is somewhat different. Because of the exemption for restaurants that serve only patrons 21 years old and older, many restaurants that chose to go non-smoking are seeing their late-night business vanish. They feel the exemption does not allow for an even playing field, and it is impacting their bottom line. Some of these businesses will not be able to survive the year, but legislators want to see how the bill is working before looking into any changes. Logistically, the bill is a nightmare to police, and due to different interpretations of the law, restaurants are enforcing it differently. Even more critical will be the potential for class-action lawsuits pertaining to health issues caused by working in a smoke-filled environment. It will only be a matter of time before these litigations become a serious issue.

The second piece of legislation is the credit card compliance bill that requires businesses to hide on customer receipts all but the last four digits of a credit card number and the expiration date of the card. This action was taken to deter people from stealing credit card information and opening false accounts. Fines are extremely high. Restaurants could be subject to a forensic audit up to $50,000, with a fine of up to $500,000 per incident for any merchant or service provider that is compromised and not compliant at the time of the incident. Software replacement to rectify the problem can be quite costly. Unfortunately, there are also businesses that are unaware of the changes. Some restaurants cannot afford to comply and are going back to manually swiping credit cards. However, the newest trend in the United States is hand-held, wireless credit card scanners that the server uses at the table so that a card never leaves the customer's possession. (This practice has been used in Europe for years.) There is also an increasing incidence of in-house credit card identity theft. In Memphis, an employee was recently arrested for making more than $8,000 in false charges to restaurant customers' cards.

Another topic that has made headline news, particularly in Memphis, but is not guided by law yet, is the subject of obesity. Memphis is at the top of the list for overweight people in its community. Efforts are being made to require restaurants to list all ingredients, fat content, calories per item, etc., on their menus. This requirement would be a nightmare for restaurants to keep updated and, frankly, there are better ways to handle this particular problem.

Every Memphis restaurateur must be aware of these laws and ensure they are in compliance. The Memphis Restaurant Association makes certain to keep its members updated on such issues through its newsletter, postal mail, and e-mail. The MRA works closely with the Tennessee Restaurant Association, the Memphis Chamber of Commerce, and the Better Business Bureau, in addition to other resources, to protect its members from unfair government legislation and unethical business practices.