New Jersey Restaurant Association Calls on NJ Restaurants to Apply for 10th Annual Restaurant Neighbor Award National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Neighbor Award celebrates its 10th anniversary, recognizes restaurateurs for outstanding community involvement Trenton, NJ – New Jersey Restaurant Association (NJRA) President, Deborah Dowdell, today called on NJRA members to apply for the Restaurant Neighbor Award, an annual award given to restaurants demonstrating outstanding community service. The National Restaurant Association developed the Restaurant Neighbor Award to highlight the community service achievements of the industry. The deadline to apply for the Award, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is June 20, 2008. “From feeding the hungry to mentoring youth to raising money for national organizations, restaurants are, and always have been, an essential part of communities across NJ. We are pleased to recognize their extraordinary efforts via the Restaurant Neighbor Award,” said Deborah Dowdell. ...
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Email Marketing Product Demonstration Webinar Plus FREE $25 Gift Card for Participants ONLINE June 2 3:00pm - 4:00pm Don’t Miss Fishbowl’s Email Marketing Production Demonstration! Learn how to increase customer loyalty and sales during an online email marketing demonstration from NJRA’s endorsed provider, Fishbowl Marketing. During this brief, virtual webinars, Fishbowl will demonstrate the ease of creating, designing and distributing an email campaign using Fishbowl’s easy to use web-based platform. Join us June 2, 2008 at 3pm – register today! https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/677051966 or contact Joe Gabriel at jgabriel@fishbowl.com or 800-836-2818 x 230. Participants will receive a free $25 American Express giftcard.

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by Dennis Carpenter Director of Association Relationships You may not have thousands of customers like large retailer TJX, the parent company to HomeGoods, Marshalls, and T.J. Maxx which is still suffering from the massive computer breach that compromised the identity of thousands of credit and debit card holders. However, you still have the same responsibility to protect consumers, and you are subject to the same relative risk to your business. By failing to safeguard all credit and debit transaction data, you may be fined thousands of dollars for a security breach – along with thousands more to find the source. As of July 31, 2007, every merchant that processes card payments must follow the 12 requirements of the Payment Card Industry’s (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS). In September 2006, Visa and MasterCard created PCI DSS as a single approach to safeguarding sensitive data for all card brands. It is now also endorsed by American Express and Discover Card. Although the PCI DSS is a comprehensive standard for security policies, network architecture, and software design, don’t be overwhelmed. Compliance does not mean completely changing everything you are doing now. ...
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REGISTER NOW TO SPONSOR, PLAY & PARTICIPATE ON JUNE 30TH AT THE NJRA ANNUAL ROBERT B. CONNELLY GOLF OUTING & 16TH ANNUAL HALL OF FAME AWARDS RECEPTION The New Jersey Restaurant Association (NJRA) Annual Robert B. Connelly Golf Outing & 16th Annual Hall of Fame Awards Reception will be held on Monday, June 30, 2008 at Glen Ridge Country Club, Glen Ridge, NJ. The theme is “Back to Traditional Golf with Loads of Fun”. The Golf Outing will be a Scramble Format so as to attract more people and speed up the play. The Golf Contests will be Straightest Drive, Closest to the Pin, Longest Drive, Hole-in-One Hole and added this year, Best Dressed”. Trophies will be awarded for these contests along with 1st and 2nd Low Team and 1st and 2nd Low Individual. Plenty of Tee Sign opportunities along with Sponsorship opportunities are available to provide ways for the foodservice supplier to promote their company/product/service said Jimmy Thornton, Event Chairman, The Grand Summit Hotel in Summit. ...
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BRIGHT IDEAS!! THE FOODSERVICE ARENA AT THE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL/MOTEL & RESTAURANT SHOW® A TRADE SHOW FOR NEW & INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS & SERVICES The Foodservice Arena, sponsored by the New Jersey Restaurant Association, at the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show®, is a show not to be missed. The Show will run from November 9 11, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The Foodservice Arena that offers “Bright Ideas!!... New & Innovative Products and Services is located on the main level right up from the front entrance has become the area where the restaurateurs from the tri-state region and around the world congregate to see the very latest in foodservice products and services. According to NJRA Events Chairman Jimmy Thornton of The Grand Summit Hotel, “The Foodservice Arena is a packed area with restaurateurs and industry professionals. It has become one of the busiest sections at the Show. The NJRA members have become accustomed to going into this Show for a lot of their purchasing needs and to also see what’s new and exciting in the marketplace. ...
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A Full Plate By Deborah Dowdell, President, New Jersey Restaurant Association NJRA Promotes the Industry on NJN Television New Jersey Restaurant Association will be sponsoring the New Jersey Network (NJN) produced Reporters Roundtable with Michael Aaron during April, May and June. This period of time is the State’s budget deliberations a traditionally highly rated period for the respected program. Our message: NJ’s eating and drinking establishments are the State’s largest private sector employer with over 300,000 employees. Tune in! Xanadu Vendors Should be Required to Buy Liquor Licenses Working with our new publicist, I wrote an opinion editorial in the Bergen Record explaining NJRA’s role along with local license holders in East Rutherford in challenging the developers of the Xanadu Project in the Meadowlands who are seeking the right to sell liquor with a permit that would be virtually free. In our Op/Ed we urge the developers to follow the new law which requires them to approach local license holders and make a fair offer for their license. ...
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The High Cost of New Jersey Government I attended Governor Corzine’s budget address and subsequently had a few meetings with legislative officials and a Cabinet member. It was interesting to hear Governor Corzine announce a smaller budget, talk about reducing services, and laying off thousands of government employees. At face value, it seemed like the Governor was promoting the “reduce the size and cost of government” message that NJ Restaurant Association members of the board have been espousing for years. The reality is that the devil is always in the details. Some of the Trenton insiders I’ve spoken to have indicated that suburban towns will be hurt more than urban towns with the reduction or elimination of municipal aid and property tax relief. Many point to the failure of the proposed budget to address pension and health benefits which have escalated to the point where NJ will remain teetering on bankruptcy if not addressed. ...
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Fishbowl

The New Jersey Restaurant Association Joins National Restaurant Association in Adding E-mail Marketing Services to List of Member Benefit Programs Partners with Fishbowl Marketing to offer exclusive program for e-mail marketing services to member restaurants (Washington, DC) The New Jersey Restaurant Association, in partnership with the National Restaurant Association, today launched a new member benefit that offers exclusive rates on e-mail marketing tools to its restaurant members. The provider of the program, Fishbowl Marketing, is the leader in permission-based e-mail marketing for the restaurant industry. Fishbowl currently provides services to over 28,000 restaurant locations—from independent operations to multi-unit companies—across the nation. E-mail marketing is a powerful way to target communications to a restaurant’s loyal guest beyond traditional mass media, which can be expensive and take weeks. E-mail can be used to announce new menu items, charity events, new store openings, special promotions, reservation reminders for high traffic holidays such as Mother’s Day and so much more. ...
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As you know, Congress passed and the President signed into law last month an economic stimulus bill in response to the slowing economy. The National Restaurant Association actively supported quick enactment of this important legislation. Your Benefits: The Government Affairs Division and the NRA have helped the restaurant industry secure valuable tax benefits through the recently-signed stimulus package! The owners and operators of our [WINDOWS-1252?]industry’s approximately 945,000 restaurant locations can take advantage of the $45 billion in business tax relief this year. In addition, restaurateurs and their 13.1 million employees will benefit from the $107 billion in rebates in 2008. The New York Sun reports that restaurateur Margaritte Malfy, owner of two La Palapa restaurants in Manhattan, calculated that she would be saving $16,000 as a result of the stimulus package. She is planning to invest much of her unexpected savings back into the renovation and expansion of her St. ...
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This information was sent to NJRA by our public affairs counsel Princeton Public Affairs Group. Governor Jon S. Corzine unveiled a new tool on his website allowing citizens to suggest spending cuts in the upcoming State Budget. In recent weeks during a series of town hall meetings the Governor has received numerous suggestions on how to cut spending. This new tool will give more citizens an opportunity to voice their opinion in an effort to help shape the upcoming FY09 State Budget. The website is part of the Governor's ongoing commitment to have an open and honest discussion with New Jerseyans about the financial future of our state. The web tool can be found by going to www.nj.gov / governor and clicking on the "Direct Citizen Input on Reducing Spending" button. In addition to their suggestions, citizens are asked to provide their name and email address as well as their town and county of residence.

Contact: D. Dowdell