Restaurant Advocacy Fund

What is the Restaurant Advocacy Fund? 

The Restaurant Advocacy Fund (formerly known as SAFE) fights for you, your business and your employees. The restaurant industry is a major economic force, yet legislators and special-interest groups introduce dozens of anti-restaurant bills and regulations each year. Our goal is to build a powerful advocacy arm at both the national and state levels. Whatever the issue, we want to be positioned to fight the next legislative battle, not the last. The Restaurant Advocacy Fund relies on contributions from those who work within and are associated with the restaurant industry.

The Restaurant Advocacy Fund has contributed nearly $7 million to state partners in their efforts to fight anti-business legislation and initiatives. Specifically in Ohio, the Restaurant Advocacy Fund provided financial and professional resources to the Ohio Restaurant Association in our fight against the 2006 minimum wage initiative and the 2008 mandatory paid sick leave initiative.

The Restaurant Advocacy Fund Protects Your Business. 

  •  The ORA understands that there is power in numbers, which is why we helped form a coalition of associations in 2008 to fight mandatory paid sick leave - a battle we won.

  • Will Arizona-style immigration reform come to Ohio? If it would drive up restaurant costs, wouldn’t you want the ORA to fight it? That’s why we have the advocacy fund.

  • Bans on plastic bags/Styrofoam are mounting. We knew it was only a matter of time before environmentalists took their campaign from the East and West Coasts and brought it to the Midwest. Proposals to ban plastic carryout bags and charge customers 5 cents per paper bag are being considered in Cleveland and Columbus. The ORA’s advocacy fund can help develop and deliver our message in opposition to these government mandates.

  • The Ohio restaurant industry needs to be ready to respond immediately when our industry is under attack from well-intentioned lawmakers. The ORA’s advocacy fund does just that.

How Can I Help?

The Ohio Restaurant Association hosts the ORA/NRA Golf Classic each year in June.  Money raised at this event benefits the Restaurant Advocacy Fund and advocacy efforts in Ohio.  For more information, please CLICK HERE or contact Richard Mason at 614-246-0130.

 

ORA staffFor more information about ORA's government affairs program, contact me at 614-246-0130 or rmason@ohiorestaurant.org. 

 

Richard Mason
ORA Director of Government Affairs