BE PREPARED
RED ALERT: THE MENU COPS ARE COMING By GEOFF LUEBKEMANN, FRLA VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING Unless you’ve been completely off the grid for the past month, you’ve no doubt heard the latest hot topic among restaurant watchdogs: indictment of farm-to-table menu claims. Spawned by a lengthy and well-researched Tampa Bay Times investigation, the media are on high alert for fraud or misrepresentation — intentional or otherwise — regarding restaurant food-sourcing claims. Many popular eateries have been called out by name for specific and false claims regarding the names of farmers, farms, fisherman, boats, species and other buzz-worthy marketing words that tap into the “locally” or “sustainably” sourced food mantra so many diners currently value. FRLA has long warned operators to be aware of and prevent fraud of any type, and claims regarding food sourcing is no different: Ignore this at your peril. Food service operators communicating specific claims regarding food sourcing must be prepared to prove such claims to consumers, media or
regulators that seek verification. The most reliable verification could be invoices for purchases from the claimed source, although a documented statement from the source confirming the supplier-purchaser relationship may suffice. Examples of claims currently attracting attention include naming a source farm, fisherman, geographic location, and/or species in printed menus, specials boards, chalk boards, server presentations or any other offer to patrons. Some of the errors identified in the recent media coverage include citing specific sources that were either never used, or had been used at one time but no longer were and the claim remained in use with patrons. FRLA reminds all operators that fraud of any type is unacceptable and exposes the operator to significant regulatory penalties and potentially fatal media attention. Take a moment right now to verify that all sourcing claims communicated by any means to your patrons are current, accurate and true. Don’t be the next headline.
PREPARING FOR HURRICANE SEASON: SECURE A FREE WEB LISTING ON VISITFLORIDA.COM TODAY By KATE CHUNKA, VISIT FLORIDA As the Florida tourism industry approaches the start of the 2016 Hurricane Season, VISIT FLORIDA has taken steps to prepare for any potential weather threat that might impact the state. As in past response efforts, VISIT FLORIDA uses Travel Alert and Advisory features to provide our visitors with real-time, hyper-local information. These features include official state response resources, live Twitter feeds from DMOs, webcam feeds from tourism destinations, videos created by our content team and an aggregation of industry and consumer social media posts that include #FloridaNow. Should a widespread evacuation order be declared within the state, VISIT FLORIDA will activate the Emergency Accommodations Module (EAM). When activated, this feature will provide statewide accommodations availability on VISITFLORIDA.com, 20 SU M M ER
2016
its associated mobile site and the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s FloridaEvacuates.com. Only accommodations with free or paid listings on VISITFLORIDA.com will be able to populate availability information for their accommodation in a time of emergency. It is important that your property’s web listing be active on VISITFLORIDA.com in advance of any potential weather threat. To secure a web listing now, go to VISITFLORIDA.org/join, populate the required fields and select the “Free Web Listing” option.
VISIT FLORIDA hosted a brief webinar for lodging businesses on May 17 to share how we will populate your property’s availability directly through the Data Engine. To listen to the recorded webinar, go to VISITFLORIDA.org/library. Lastly, please visit the Hurricane Information page within the Crisis Preparation section on VISITFLORIDA.org. It contains a link to the EAM webinar, helpful FAQs, media relations tips and resources for communicating with key audiences in times of crisis. For more information, please visit regcomplianceusa.com.
F LO R I DA R ESTAU R A N T & LO D G I N G A S SO CI AT I O N