Media Contact:
Elizabeth Ray
FRLA Communications Director
850.224.2250 x255
ERay@FRLA.org
(Tallahassee, FL) – The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association (FRLA) today announced its participation in this year’s Small Business Saturday, taking place on November 29, 2014. Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to strengthening the community by supporting local small businesses.
“Small businesses represent the backbone of our industry and we are thrilled so many of our members are participating in this event,” said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. “We are proud to support efforts at the local level and encourage all Floridians to shop small this holiday season.”
Now in its fifth year, Small Business Saturday serves as the ceremonial kickoff to the holiday shopping season for small businesses across the United States. In 2013, nearly 1,500 Neighborhood Champions rallied local businesses and created events and activities to drive shopping at small businesses around the country. The day was also championed by elected officials in all 50 states and Washington D.C., including President Obama who took his daughters shopping at a local bookstore.
FRLA recognizes the importance of supporting small business in Florida, the jobs they help create and the culture they instill in local communities. According to the U.S. Small Businesses Administration, as of 2012, small businesses nationwide accounted for 64% of net new private-sector jobs created and represented 99.7% of all employer firms.1
Merchants and consumers can learn more about Small Business Saturday and how to get involved by visiting ShopSmall.com and the official Small Business Saturday Facebook page.
Contacts:
Sal Della Monica
M Booth
212.539.3272
sald@mbooth.com
About Small Business Saturday
Nov 29 marks the fifth annual Small Business Saturday, a day to support the local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve neighborhoods around the country. Small Business Saturday was created in 2010 in response to small business owners’ most pressing need: more customers. To date, more than 3.3 million Facebook users “liked” the Small Business Saturday page2. Just last year, 370+ advocacy organizations, 160+ corporations, and elected officials in all 50 states and Washington D.C. declared their support for Small Business Saturday.
1 Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy Frequently Asked Questions, September 2012
2 According to Facebook Insights, the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/SmallBusinessSaturday received 3,316,569 “Likes” as of 5/20/2014
About the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association
FRLA is Florida’s premier non-profit hospitality industry trade association. Our mission is to ‘Protect, Educate and Promote’ Florida’s $76.1 billion hospitality industry which represents 23% of Florida’s economy, $4.6 billion in sales tax revenue, and nearly 1.1 million employees – making it the state’s number one industry. We offer regulatory compliance and food safety training needs (RCS and SafeStaff®); industry developed career-building high school programs (FRLAEF); sponsor the only event in Florida exclusively serving the restaurant and foodservice industry (FR&L Show, October 6-8, 2015 in Orlando); and we safeguard the needs of the hospitality industry by providing legislative advocacy. We represent and serve more than 10,000 independent and household name members, suppliers, and theme parks. For more information, go to www.FRLA.org and find us on Twitter @FRLAnews, Facebook and YouTube.