In general, “hours worked” includes all the time an employee is required to be on duty, on the employer’s premises, or at a prescribed work place. “Hours worked” also includes all times an employee is permitted to work for the employer. This means that any work the employer permits, even though the employer does not request it, is working time.

For example, an employee may voluntarily continue working at the end of the shift. He or she may want to finish an assigned task, to correct errors, or to prepare time or production reports. The reason is immaterial; if the employer knows or has reason to believe that the employee is continuing to work, then that time must be counted as hours worked. This basic rule applies also to work performed away from the employer’s premises or the job site, or even at home.

In all such cases, management has the right to exercise control and to see that the work is not performed if the employer does not want it to be performed. Management cannot sit back and accept the benefits without compensating for them. Merely declaring a rule against such work is not enough. Management has the power to enforce it and must make every effort to do so….FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

Please join the GHRA for our Annual Spring Swing Golf Tournament!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Kingwood Country Club

1700 Lake Kingwood Trail

Kingwood, TX

For more information, click here

Students in the kitchen

Second Annual Texas ProStart® Invitational

 The GHRA is proud of the 28 ProStart schools that are a part of our region – high schools that are teaching the only curriculum written by the industry.  We know that investing in the restaurant workforce tomorrow is one that pays off!  This year, the GHRA is proud to host it’s second annual Texas ProStart Invitational.  It all starts with our regional competition on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at the Humble Civic Center.  We are also excited to have the Restaurant Management Competition included this year with the Culinary Competition.

Three regional Culinary Competitions will be held in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. The top three teams from the regional competitions will qualify to compete in the state competition held in Austin, Texas.  Stay tuned to find out who wins in Houston and will go to represent our region at the state level!  Whoever wins at the state level will go on to represent Texas at the national competition.

So, in thinking through all of the ways that our association’s members take care of people’s hunger, we are also struck by those in our community who are hungry and do not have the means to satisfy their hunger by cooking a meal easily or going out to a restaurant.  Fact:  In 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.  As we pass through another round of holidays – of rich, sweet meals where we have enjoyed merriment and friendship – we start the new year with a reminder that for some, the holidays lacked the very thing many of us take for granted – the sustenance that food offers.  Many in our community are hungry on a daily basis – a large portion of them are children.   And that is the intersection that the Houston Food Bank meets people at on a regular basis.  They don’t just meet them at that intersection for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  The Houston Food Bank meets the hungry citizens of Houston at that intersection on a daily basis.

The staff at the GHRA is proud of the people we work with.  During the Final Four this past spring, Houston’s restaurants enjoyed a pick-up in business and in doing so, remembered their most needy citizens.  Thousands of dollars were raised and hundreds of pounds of food were donated for the hungry in Houston in conjunction with the Final Four.  In addition, on a daily basis, many of our restaurants have their own programs that ensure food does not go to waste, but instead benefits hungry Houstonians.

This blog is a reminder – a reminder that as we start out the new year after having feasted aplenty, the hungry are still with us and you can make a difference.  The GHRA staff, starting this past December, committed to volunteering at the Houston Food Bank once a month.  We are inviting all of our members to join us and will be posting our volunteer dates by the end of this week.  If you have an opportunity to take the time to be a part of remembering our fellow citizens in need and giving some of your time, give us a call or send us an email at assistant@ghra.com and join us for our monthly volunteering.  If the gift of a monetary donation is preferred, you can donate at www.houstonfoodbank.org.

In our industry, it’s all about the recipes!  It might be the secret ingredients, the special sauce or the mystery blend of spices – but we know good flavor when we taste it and a good recipe when we both see and taste it! We’re always rustlin’ up our favorite recipes – whether we’ve found them as we’ve perused the internet and then taken them home to try, or one of our beloved members has provided us with the secret to their success!  It’s  a new year and everyone has made their resolutions to eat healthy- so here are a few of our favorite recipe links, and one of our member recipes to help you kick of 2012 in a healthy way!

• For some great recipes for healthy weeknight dinners, click HERE.
• To try out some great guilt-free treats to satisfy your sweet tooth, click HERE.
• Read more about the 10 worst and best foods for you by clicking HERE.
• With sweet potatoes being one of the best foods you can eat, find a yummy sweet potato soup recipe by clicking HERE.
• Broccoli is one of those incredible super-foods!  Click HERE to download an incredible garlic lemon broccoli recipe.

And, from one of our treasured members, Peter Garcia, Jr., enjoy the delicious and healthy fish recipe below:

SALMON BESNES – Peter Garcia, Jr. of El Meson

Ingredients:

2 lbs. salmon filet, skin on
black pepper
2 oz extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon Spanish capers
1 oz white wine
1 bunch spinach
1 Cup, plain yogurt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoons parsley, finely chopped.

Directions:

1-Salt and lightly pepper the pink side of salmon filet
2-Heat olive oil in skillet and place filet with skin side facing up
3-Sear salmon for 5 minutes and then flip the filet over so the skin side is now facing down
4-Lower flame, cover and let simmer for 8 minutes
5-Remove filet from skillet, set aside
6-Add capers and wine to the skillet and deglaze
7-Transfer ingredients from pan to mixing bowl and place in the freezer for a minute to cool
8-Place spinach in the skillet over a low flame until barely wilted.
9-Remove spinach and place on a swerving dish.  Repeat with more spinach if necessary.
10-Retrieve mixing bowl from freezer; add yogurt and mix well with a whisk.  Add lemon juice and mix briskly until smooth.
11-Pour yogurt mixture over spinach.
12-Place filet over spinach on a warmed dinner plate (black pepper side up) and garnish with a slice of lemon and parsley.

The Molina Family at “The Great Gala”

Houston, TX (November 16, 2011) – The Greater Houston Restaurant Association (GHRA) hosted its annual Gourmet Gala on November 5, 2011 at the Hilton Americas in downtown Houston. “The Great Gala”, sponsored by Sysco Houston, Inc., is one of the associations’ biggest fundraisers of the year, raising well over one million dollars in the past seven years. This year, the GHRA chose to honor the Molina family for their contribution to the restaurant industry in Houston.

Molina’s Cantina has been a staple in the Houston restaurant industry for over 70 years. At Molina’s, whether you are a relative, a customer or an employee, you are a part of the family.  This exactly how Raul Molina’s customers felt when he first opened the restaurant doors and that legacy continues today.   After moving to Houston from his hometown of Laredo, Mexico in the late 1920’s, Raul Molina began working as a busboy in a local restaurant. By 1941, Molina and his wife, Mary had worked and saved enough to open up their very own Mexican restaurant, The Old Monterrey on West Gray. Today, there are two Molina’s locations with a third on the way, run by Raul Sr.’s grandsons, Raul III, Ricardo and Roberto, all of whom are committed to bringing Houstonians the very best in quality and service.

At the Gala, the Molina family was front and center as guests enjoyed casino tables, Magician, Ben Jackson and a photo booth filled with 20’s inspired costumes. Guests also had the opportunity to win a pair of beautiful amethyst and diamond earrings in the Jewelry Raffle and bid on fabulous gifts, vacations and wine packages in the silent auction.  Attendees danced the night away, thanks to the musical stylings of DJ “Playbacks” who played our favorite hits from the 60’s, 70’s and beyond!  

Proceeds from this event go toward the Houston Restaurant Association Scholarship Endowment Fund at the Conrad N. Hilton College, the Texas Restaurant Association Education Foundation, as well as the GHRA education scholarship fund, which gives scholarships to students in the hospitality and culinary arts field. These funds help those students learn the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the industry when they may not have otherwise had the chance.

 Special thanks to our sponsors who helped make this evening a huge success: Sysco Houston, Inc., US Foods, Glazier Foods Company, InsurTexas, Nationwide Insurance, Brothers Produce, Texas Metal Equipment, Spec’s, Martin Desiere, Hotchkiss Insurance and Terressentia.

We all know that Thanksgiving today looks quite different from the original Thanksgiving that the pilgrims set out so long ago.  And, as we’ve surveyed our office, even what our families deem as “traditional” Thanksgivings are different from others families’ traditions.

Jean at The Farm with some of her cousins.

Jean Stewart (who oversees all things in our office) heads up to her family farm outside of Brenham, Texas for Thanksgiving every year.  When we asked her what they made, she rattled off a list so long we started feeling full just writing it all down.  The most memorable quote from Jean about her family’s Thanksgiving tradition was – “We put liquor in everything.”  And then she went on to list their meal which included turkey, stuffing, gravy, every casserole known to man (sweet potato casserole, squash casserole, green bean casserole), sherry Jell-O molds, cranberry sauce and lots of wine.  The dessert list was just as long and included rum pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate chess pie, lemon meringue pie and chocolate meringue pie.  It’s a good thing her family’s annual feast has 25-30 people because we have no idea how any fewer folks could eat that much food! 

Uncle Danny aka "Cowboy" cookin' up some breakfast over the fire.

 We also loved hearing about a new family tradition that was started a couple of years go – when her Uncle Danny does a cookout by the barn the morning after Thanksgiving and serves up an amazing cowboy breakfast.  We are sure her family is literally rolling back to Houston after that kind of food weekend!

For Katie Clark (our Assistant Director), it’s a little more low key.  Sometimes they go out of town to be with family in Tennessee and eat a traditional meal.    Her family members chow down, but for Katie, who eats like a bird, there isn’t a lot of stuffing herself.  Her dad loves Thanksgiving, so there’s plenty of food, but if you’ve spent any amount of time with Katie, you note that she doesn’t eat a lot of meat.  So what does she really enjoy on Thanksgiving?  Her answer:  “I like a big bowl of green bean casserole.”   That’s our Katie!  We want to see a picture of her and her big bowl of green bean casserole this year!

And in getting to know the latest member of our team, Crystal Riggs (Member Relations Manager), we found out that her family’s tradition is about eating a lot and watching a lot of football.  “We just hang out – it’s mellow” she told us, which makes sense to those of us who have just started working with her.  Crystal is a pretty mellow person, however, she noted that she is a “big time sports fan” and therefore we can imagine that Thanksgiving at her house is quite loud if they’ve got the football games on!

Finally, there’s the Quan Family traditions that Rachel (our Executive Director) has come to really enjoy throughout her 17 years of marriage.  There’s a giant gathering at her brother-in-law’s house where it’s an international feast.   Indian food, Chinese food and Tex-Mex sit alongside the traditional turkeys that she and her mother-in-law make.  Rachel makes a Chinese fried rice stuffing that includes Chinese sausage and

Pioneer Woman's Southern Living Apple Pie.

 mushrooms, as well as The Pioneer Woman’s amazing apple pie recipe she tore out of a Southern Living magazine a number of years back.  And then – there’s the annual Quan Family Football Game so that people can work off all the extra calories they have consumed.  In fact, tradition dictates that dessert comes after the football game over at Memorial Park.

Most importantly, it’s that time of year when we all reflect on what we’re thankful for – our family, our friends, our jobs, our community.  What about you?  Email us, comment here and let us know about your annual traditions!

Shellie Divin of Celebrations & Sweet Creations serves up some delectable desserts!

We highlight all sorts of different topics via our website. Whether it is burger toppings or what we ate on vacation – there’s always something to talk about as those of us at the Greater Houston Restaurant Association live our daily lives. And, when you’re working with restaurants on a day-to-day basis, especially in the fourth largest city in the United States, you run into amazing, hard-working and unique people all the time.

ENTER: Shellie Divin – owner and baker at Celebrations & Sweet Creations. Her storefront in Magnolia, Texas has been around for quite a while. But, in addition to her storefront that provides incredibly delicious desserts, breads and pastries, Shellie has taken her bakery in a new direction. She has been selling wholesale to restaurants who want to serve her delectable desserts.

So, this is the story about a number of things in our world of food and restaurants. It’s about the connection of social media, the power of relationship, the fact that you can’t beat a great product and ultimately a testimony to how there is just no substitute for hard work – especially in the restaurant industry!

SCENE ONE:  There we were – updating our GHRA Facebook page with all sorts of fun facts, stories and interesting articles – when up popped a message from Shellie.   HER POST: “Hi! I just joined and I want to know how I can get involved.”  This is social media at its best – an interactive conversation is started with a mere introduction and suddenly we are off and running towards a new friendship. You can’t beat it. It was a quick friendship – because suddenly, via Facebook, we were realizing that Shellie’s home and bakery were in the midst of the fire danger in Magnolia a few weeks ago. We kept up with her and her business, as well as sent some encouraging notes via FB and email throughout that time. And we all celebrated with her when she got to return to her home in Magnolia after being evacuated.

SCENE TWO: And, not too long after that initial Facebook post - we were sitting in the GHRA Tasting Room with Shellie. It’s the best kind of meeting for us here on staff – because we got to build a new friendship with a new member over the most important thing in all the world to us – FOOD! And man, those were some killer cupcakes! Shout out to Shellie on her Red Velvet Cupcakes and Dark Chocolate Cupcakes filled with cream filling. This is the most dangerous aspect of our jobs – dangerous because the calorie count can go through the roof when we’re “working” in meetings like we had with Shellie. And this conversation led to Celebrations & Sweet Creations providing the desserts for all of our industry folks at our Annual Burgers & Beer Cookout on September 15th. Shellie set up an amazing display of treats that included her caramel pecan pies and lemon tarts. She made great contacts, got to know her fellow restaurateurs and realized the full value of membership. In other words – SHE WORKED IT. Shellie isn’t merely a joiner. She’s a doer. And with melt-in-your-mouth desserts along with some hard work – she made some new connections. In spite of all of the technology today, the myriad of new and different ways to get a job done… well, we say – THERE IS JUST NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WORK. And Shellie Divin is proof positive of that.

ENCORE: To top things off at our Burgers & Beer night, Shellie’s husband was the proud winner of a brand new iPad that was raffled off at our event! We have to say, we could not have been more thrilled that such a hard-working member won such a cool prize. She more than earned it! We say that this is a lesson that is easily transferred to every area of life – no matter what your job is, or where you’re living. Hard work is hard work, plain and simple. And it’s really rewarding when you get to see that hard work pay dividends.

As you know, Texas is in the midst of a severe drought.  Houston has just seen the hottest month ever in its recorded history, with no sign of rain and with experts predicting that it will be the end of the year before our city begins to see any amount of measurable rainfall.  Mayor Annise Parker has instituted Stage 2 Water Conservation for the city (click here to read about what that means for you as a citizen). 

Our industry is all about hospitality, about taking care of our communities.   And, at this point in time, we are all being called to do our part in conserving water – both as local citizens and as business owners. The Greater Houston Restaurant Association would like to encourage its members to consider providing Water on Demand during this drought.  You, our members, are an integral part of the fabric of our city and we want to lead the way in helping to conserve water.  

What does Water on Demand mean?  It means serving water to our patrons only when they have asked for it as opposed to giving it to every guest who may or may not drink it.  This might be something you are already doing and if so, we applaud you for leading the way!  For our members who haven’t switched to this practice, we are asking you to consider beginning this process in order to conserve water.  This practice helps conserve water by not wasting water on those patrons who don’t drink it, in addition to not wasting water on washing glasses that aren’t utilized by our guests.  Of course, we want to continue to provide incredible service to our patrons – and we can do so by giving them the option of requesting water to drink.  A notice in your menu or posted in your establishment can explain the reason that you are serving water on demand only – reminding patrons that you are doing your part to conserve water during this difficult time.

There are other ways to conserve water at our restaurants too.  To learn more about how you can conserve in these other ways, click here for some ideas that have come from a recent article in the Houston Chronicle.  Another idea a restaurateur had was taking leftover drinking water and utilizing it to water plants around their restaurant.  We would love to hear what ideas you have for conserving or re-using water – just email us at assistant@ghra.com and we’ll share your stories on our Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as on our website!

Houston’s restaurants have always been leaders in the community, and we thank you in advance for being leaders yet again during this time of drought in our city! 

Sincerely,

Rachel Quan
Executive Director
Greater Houston Restaurant Association

GHRA Staffer, Jean Stewart, with the Kobe Beef Burger at Mockingbird Bistro

Ah, the burger!  An American staple… and apparently Houston is the Burger Capitol of the World!  Legend has it that a Texan actually came up with the very first burger. In the 1880s, Fletcher Davis served up the first burger in his small café in Athens, Texas.  The story is that he put the patty on fresh bread with ground mustard, mayo and some sliced pickles.  Folks loved it so much that his local community raised enough money to send him and his burger to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis where the burger made its international debut.    

Everyone has their favorite burger – whether they boast their own recipe or tout their favorite place to go and eat one!   And burgers have come a long way since Fletcher Davis decided to throw some ground beef on fresh bread.  I can remember going to the World Expo in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1986 with my family and experiencing a muskox burger and a reindeer burger.  I have to say, muskox burger tastes exactly how it sounds – musky!  The reindeer burger was more of the hit for my teenage palate because it tasted a little less earthy and a bit more like venison.  It was still quite chewy, however.

Then there are the crazy things that people put on their burgers!  I’ve seen and heard of everything from peanut butter to garbanzo beans.  And, although a fried egg is not typical fare, I have to say, I LOVE a burger with a fried egg on top!  Check out how Top Chef contestant, Fabiano Viviani pits his fried egg burger against Jimmy Fallon’s own burger recipe – Click HERE to see their burger throwdown.   I will say, that in my house, nothing beats our homemade avocado relish topping our turkey burgers.  We will be having these burgers tomorrow night for dinner!

Recently, the king of hot dogs, James Coney Island, decided to launch a new line of gourmet burgers!  The Chronicle just wrote about it – Click HERE for the article.   And then of course, we’ve been making the burger rounds as a staff – which, as Jean Stewart pointed out – is quite dangerous for our waistlines.  This week we’ve downed Mockingbird Bistro’s Kobe Beef Burger and today, Jean and I are headed over to member restaurant’s Goode’s Armadillo Palace for one of their incredible burgers!

This leads us to… don’t miss out on the GHRA’s annual Burgers and Beer Cookout on September 15^th.  The Early Bird special has tickets at $20 for all the burgers you can eat and beverages you can drink!  Click HERE for more information and get your tickets TODAY!  They are already selling quickly!

If you want the opportunity to WIN (4) tickets to our Burgers and Beer Cookout at The Lot on Washington, just post YOU with YOUR FAVORITE BURGER (homemade or restaurant-bought) on our Facebook Page, and tell us what makes the burger so great!

-Rachel Quan for the GHRA Team