California Restaurant Association

In an ongoing effort to shape the benefits, services and programs provided to California’s restaurant industry, the California Restaurant Association (CRA) has launched a broad telephone-based survey, in partnership with the Field Co.

Recently, an alarming number of Proposition 65 notice filings and lawsuits have targeted restaurants in California. Restaurants must display compliance posters clearly for patrons establishment when serving alcohol or certain menu items. The California Restaurant Association (CRA) has released updated legal guidance on Proposition 65, as well as compliant postings for restaurants in its online store.

California Restaurant Association (CRA) partner Heartland Payment Systems is quickly expanding beyond the realm of payment processing, with a number of new projects and products in the works that aim to help restaurants.

One such initiative is SmartLink Food Safety Monitoring, which officially launched May 20 at the NRA Show. The company touts the system as “the most advanced, single-point solution for monitoring of food storage and preparation equipment for the restaurant industry.”

The Western Food and Hospitality Expo, in conjunction with the show’s official housing vendor, OnPeak, has issued a warning regarding other parties offering housing for the event.

While the state Legislature once again considers a statewide minimum wage proposal (AB 10 D- Alejo), communities up and down the state continue to debate the issue of local minimum wage hikes and labor activists continue to push the issue with local government elected officials and candidates.

PROPOSAL WOULD PILE ON NEW EMPLOYER MANDATES AND PENALTIES TO REQUIREMENTS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

More than a dozen major industry have joined forces to oppose AB 880, a bill by Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), which will mandate a new state health care program that would force new penalties on employers with 500 or more employees in an effort to close what the author calls the “Wal-Mart Loophole.”

SOME SIGNIFICANT PROPOSALS CONTINUE TO HANG IN THE BALANCE

The California legislative process is in full swing and quickly approaching a number of deadlines that will determine the fate of more than 2,400 bills in both the Assembly and Senate.  By the end of May, measures introduced in their respective houses will either move forward or become two-year bills, which are ineligible for more consideration this year. Several bills that could affect the restaurant association have been delayed, and the California Restaurant Association (CRA) will pick up monitoring those in the next session.