Maggiano’s Little Italy
6:00 p.m. Cocktail Reception
7:00 p.m. Dinner & Presentation
$55 Per Person
Attire: Business Casual

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.

REST BREAKS AND MEAL PERIODS

An employer is not required to give employees a rest break or meal period.  However, rest breaks of short duration, designed to promote employee efficiency and running under 30 minutes, are common in the foodservice industry.  The time must be counted as hours worked.  One note, breaks for nursing mothers to export milk are required and a private area, other than a restroom, must be made available for this purpose.

Bona fide meal periods during the scheduled workdays are not considered work time under the FLSA, and the employer need not pay employees for such periods.  Ordinarily, 30 minutes or more is considered a bona fide meal period.  In order for bona fide meal periods to be excluded from compensable working time, the employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals.  The meal period must be uninterrupted except for a rare or infrequent emergency call.

TIP CREDIT

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that an employer pay employees at least the minimum wage prescribed by law.  The same law permits employers in states that follow the federal tip credit to take a tip credit equal to the difference between the minimum wage and the cash wage of $2.13 per hour.

TIP POOLING

The FLSA says employers may not take a tip credit unless an employee retains all of his or her tips.  This does not, however, prevent tip-splitting or tip-pooling arrangements among employees who customarily and regularly receive tips, provided the participants are not required to contribute a greater percentage of their tips to the pool than is customary or reasonable.

OVERTIME FOR TIPPED EMPLOYEES

Employers should be careful when calculating overtime for tipped employees.  Employers should keep in mind that the law requires that an employee’s regular rate of pay — that is, the rate used to determine overtime — can never be less than the applicable minimum wage rate.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE

By Combining contributions of many in the foodservice industry, the Texas Restaurant Association Political Action Committee (TRA PAC) is able to more significantly impact elections. 

 Join your fellow GHRA members and hear Senator Glenn Hegar discuss topicsrelevant to the restaurant industry and the current political landscape

When: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Where: Crapitto’s Cucina Italiana  | 2400 Mid Lane Dr. Houston TX, 77027

$50 Minimum*

Non-corporate checks, cash or credit cards accepted

Suggested Contribution Levels*

$100|$250|$500 

$1,000+

For more information or to RSVP to this event, please call the GHRA office at 713.802.1200 or email Assistant@ghra.com

* Contributions to the TRA PAC are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

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

The GHRA is proud to announce that Houston’s own Miller Career and Technology Center will compete in the National ProStart Culinary Competition on April 27-29 in Baltimore, Maryland. The 11^th annual invitational will showcase ProStart students with proven skills in the restaurant and hospitality industry.

In order to qualify for the National Competition, the student’s had to compete and place in both the regional and state competitions. The Houston Regional Competition took place on January 21^st, where Miller Career and Technology Center placed in the top three culinary teams out of 13! This allowed the team to compete in the State Competition, where they took home the coveted 1^st place trophy on March 3^rd.

Teams participating in the National culinary competition must demonstrate their technical as well as creative skills through the preparation of a three course meal in only 60 minutes. They will be judged based on team work, creativity and of course, taste! The top five teams will be awarded medals and scholarships to help the students pursue careers in the foodservice industry.

Though the students and instructors are absolutely thrilled and honored to be competing in the ProStart National Invitational, the cost of participating in this event is not cheap and we need YOUR help!

Between practice supplies, travel and lodging expenses and other supplies needed to take home the trophy, Miller Career and Technology Center is looking at a bill close to $10,000! The GHRA has promised to help cover some of the cost and we need the help of our dedicated members.

If you would like to make a donation to help MCTC represent Texas at the ProStart National Culinary Competition, please fill out the form below and return it to the GHRA office.

We thank you in advance for your support.

Click here to download form. Please fill it out completely and return to the GHRA

*Please make checks out to: Greater Houston Restaurant Association with “ProStart National’s” on the memo line. Checks should be mailed to GHRA at 550 Westcott, Suite 380, Houston, TX 77007. If paying by credit card, please fax this form back to GHRA at 713.802.2770

Last week, the GHRA staff took a morning off from their usual routines to put their knife skills to the test. Holly, Crystal and Katie spent the morning volunteering at the Houston Food Bank working in the kitchen of the Keegan Center, located just North of Downtown on the North Freeway. While this was not the first time for the GHRA to volunteer at the Food Bank, this was the first time to work in the kitchen.

We were quite unsure of what to expect, but we were all very excited about the thought of working in a kitchen that prepares THOUSANDS of meals a month for various programs throughout Texas. I mean, we work for the Greater Houston Restaurant Association; we should be able to navigate through a 3,700 square foot industrial kitchen…..right?

We arrived bright and early and kitchen was already busy with staffers, volunteers and prisoners from the TX Department of Corrections who were hard at work getting the meals prepared. In one corner were workers kneading dough for breakfast calzones (mmm bacon), in another corner a few people were stirring a huge pot of chili and taking up a large portion of the kitchen was an assembly line of about 15 men and women packaging lunches for the “Kids Café” program, which provides meals to school aged children at after-school and summer programs.

Lucky for us, as soon as we walked in, we were instructed to wash and glove up, then we were handed kitchen knives and told to “get ready to chop”! These knives were quite large and we were excited to use them, until we realized they were chained to the tables (rats!). And chop we did. We chopped carrots, pineapple (smelled delicious), papaya and to our horror, onions. Yes, we spent a good hour fighting back the tears as we sliced and diced about a hundred pounds of onions. Holly (being the emotional one) was the first to shed a tear, but our guide came to her rescue, wiping her tears with a tissue.

All in all, we had a wonderful time working in the Keegan Kitchen, but what made our morning even more fulfilling was knowing that in the few short hours we spent there, the three of us chopped 2,882 pounds of produce, which contributed to over 2,400 meals!

The fact is, we made only a tiny dent in the amount of work that goes on in that kitchen on a daily basis. On top of Kids Café, the workers at Keegan Kitchen prepare meals for Meals on Wheels as well as US Vets. Meals on Wheels is a federally-funded program that provides hot meals to citizens with limited access to outside human contact as well as frozen meal to seniors not qualifying for hot meals. Hot meals are also supplied to over 90 homeless vets 365 days a year.

Unfortunately, 900,000 individuals in Southeast Texas go hungry at one point or another and it is up to organizations like the Houston Food Bank to ensure that number does not grow. The GHRA has committed to spending at least 1 day per month donating our time to the food bank and we invite YOU to join us.

For more information about the Houston Food Bank, please visit www.houstonfoodbank.org. If you would like to join the GHRA on a volunteer trip, please contact Katie Clark at Katie.Clark@ghra.com or call 713.802.1200.

During the program, teachers will gain “real world” work experience in front of the house, back of the house and management positions, a fresh perspective for curriculum development, exposure to current business trends and workplace cultures in restaurants, and the competencies needed to be successful in today’s workplace. Upon completion of the training, participant will receive a $2,500 stipend from the TRAEF.

Download the 2012 Teachers Externship Application here

The deadline to apply for the program is May 15, 2012

Restaurateurs will benefit from the opportunity to work with educators that impact your future workforce, new relationships and brand exposure for your business and increased knowledge and understanding of high school culinary & restaurant management education. This experience will highlight company involvement to members of your community. The TRAEF will provide a customized training model to follow.

Questions about the program? Contact Susan Petty or call 800.395.2872.

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.