The Hispanic Restaurant Association, a trade group founded in 2021 in Denver, is launching a membership campaign heading into 2024. The organization aims to attract members with a combination of professional development and access to networking and group purchase/discount programs. In the big picture, the group works to show how important Hispanic restaurateurs are to the industry.
“The key takeaway of being a member is our focus and recognition of education and elevation of the back and front of the house members,” says John Jaramillo, the HRA's CEO and co-founder. “As well as being a member of an organization that creates opportunities and national platforms that benefits every restaurateur.”
The education component of HRA membership includes its Restaurant Fundamentals Course, an online program that includes training in culinary arts, health and safety, menu planning, restaurant management, and innovation and creativity. This will become available in the first quarter of 2024. Weekly Zoom lessons with Chef Fernando Stovell, a veteran food service consultant and an HRA director, will be included.
“We can help with the education part of being a better restaurateur, such as inventory management, food costing and driving menu development that puts your most profitable items front and center,” Jaramillo says.
Also beginning in the first quarter of 2024, the organization will offer membership in a group purchasing organization (GPO) that leverages collective purchasing to get good deals on products and services. The GPO also simplifies the buying process through Buyers Edge, a foodservice supply chain technology platform. Other benefits include a network of suppliers of financial advice, real estate expertise, and other services. And Jaramillo reports that the group is creating Project Atlas, which will be a network of distributors, growers, ranchers and other foodservice suppliers that members can access via a central digital hub.
A key achievement of the group in 2023 was gaining Senate recognition of National Hispanic Restaurant Week. HRA members benefit from exclusive promotions during that week, Jaramillo says. The HRA also operates the Hispanic Top Chef competition.
Jaramillo feels the HRA offers Hispanic restaurateurs something the larger, more generic restaurant associations do not.
“The other restaurant associations have largely only been interested in chains and the ownership of those businesses and catering to them,” he says. “Our advantage is that we have taken a more holistic approach, focusing on the education and elevation of the members or employees that are the backbone or human infrastructure of the food service industry in the USA. I think [the larger associations], including the NRA, have not understood the cultures that powered the food service industry. They’ve recently started an outreach program, but from my perspective it’s more lip service than wanting to make a difference. That’s why I’m confident in the long term growth and vision of the Hispanic Restaurant Association.”
Click here for more information about joining the HRA
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