May 2020 Executive Directors Message

Although this tidal wave pandemic hit us fiercely and unexpectedly, many members in our restaurant industry and community rose to push back against it. Your Hawaii Restaurant Association Executive Committee and Board of Directors have been working long hours and on their days off to speak to our local and national government officials. Meetings with Governor Ige, conference calls with Congressman Ed Case and weekly calls with Speaker Saiki, have all contributed to HRA’s positive impact on our industry. We asked Governor Ige to allow sealed spirits to be sold in restaurants while ordering take out meals. Gov Ige’s Executive Order 20-04 including our request and recommendation was approved on April 16, 2020. Yay!

The HRA Executive Committee and Board of Directors are engaged in many other projects which will continue to bring financial relief to our food service industry.

HRA’s Restaurant Outreach program has assisted and communicated with over 50 companies in regards to their PPP status. Mahalo to our Outreach Committee, Team Sysco, Team HMAA & Team ProService!  If you or someone you know has questions in regards to PPP, please complete our form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsJ09-TAHy7N0lzByHhLW9kSaoZYhySdQtsEP-6_TNtbuTXA/viewform.  We have Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai & Vietnamese translators available to help.

Keep Calm and Carry Out Hawaii campaign has over 1,000 restaurants on it that are offering take out, drive thru, curbside or delivery service. If your restaurant or if you know of a restaurant that is serving meals at this time, please check our Keep Calm campaign on our website:

If your restaurant is not on our list, it’s simple to get on! Just post on our facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/hrahawaii/

You will be asked to provide some details about your restaurant to be on our Keep Calm and Carry Out list. We will need your restaurant’s website, phone number, hours, zip code, and which service you are providing. Our Keep Calm and Carry Out list sorts by zip code. We want you and all restaurants currently serving meals on our list!

When the National Restaurant Association updates us on this quickly escalating pandemic, I felt it was important to quickly forward urgent information to you. However, I received a comment that I was sending out emails too frequently. For that I apologize. In my effort to keep everyone updated on COVID-19 and the closing of dine-in restaurants, I thought the best way to keep everyone informed was by sending updates as quickly as I was receiving them. We are now delivering information in a more consolidated format.

The Hawaii Restaurant Association will continue to keep its website updated and share new information as it becomes available. We are still in the midst of this storm and the next few months will be challenging. Despite this, I want to assure you that HRA will be working through this pandanic with you.  There is strength in numbers and HRA will continue to fight for our food service industry!

We are your COVID-19 Resource Center. As always, please feel free to email me should you have any questions at info@hawaiirestaurant.org

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