Welcome from CRA President & CEO

On behalf of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, I would like to welcome everyone to the 2022 CRAzies Awards Gala. I am honored to share this time with you and build on an event that has become a touchstone for our industry, its members, our partners in government, and the many families, friends and supporters of Connecticut’s hospitality industry.

It’s no secret this is still a challenging time for the restaurant and hospitality industry. While we know the coming year will continue to throw challenges our way, I’m confident that if we stand together, we will be stronger on the other side for having done so. I believe this because I know just how much we were able to accomplish in recent months and years, even under the most difficult of circumstances.

Over the last few years, the CRA worked hard to help secure hundreds of millions of dollars back to Connecticut’s hospitality sector, whether that was through Federal Paycheck Protection Programs, Restaurant Revitalization Funds or the State specific hospitality grants. In addition to funding, we secured alcohol-to-go, expanded outdoor dinning and put over $155 million towards the CT Unemployment Trust Fund. Since the start of the pandemic our goal has been to get you back open, keep you open and most importanly, tell your story. Even now, we are sharing the truth about the challenges of our industry post-pandemic, as everyone is battling issues with staffing, inflation and more.

In addition to our advocacy, we also saw our Connecticut ProStart teams finish 4th in management and 11th in culinary in the nation, we brought the workforce training program “Restaurant Ready” to the state, and we kept supporting our members with an updated Member Resource Guide detailing the benefits and resources available.

We are proud of the work we have done and the strides we have made this year, while acknowledging there will be many more hurdles on the road ahead. But we are an industry that stands together, faces these challenges head-on, and comes out all the stronger for it.

Thank you to our sponsors for their continued support, and congratulations to our honorees – let’s have a fantastic 2022 CRAzies Awards Gala!

Scott Dolch

President & CEO

Connecticut Restaurant Association

CT Hospitality Educational Foundation