New Millennium Insurance Claims

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Do you have the proper coverage to protect you from “new millennium” claims?

The new year is a perfect time to think about protecting one of your major assets – your business. In today’s world, claims other than the traditional fire, theft, and slip and falls are becoming commonplace.

Employment Practices Liability Insurance provides coverage for sexual harassment and discrimination claims, defense costs for wage and hour claims, and more. Cyber Liability Insurance protects against credit card fraud, identity theft, and many penalties/fines from credit card companies.

If you have an E. Coli outbreak, is your loss of income protected? What about a media campaign to help minimize negative press? Many owners do not realize that there is coverage available for situations like this that can happen to any size restaurant.

Prevention is always the best medicine, so verify that your food safety training and employee handbooks are up-to-date. Verify that you have a certified alcohol compliance training program in place as liquor liability claims are becoming more prevalent in today’s litigious world.

Don’t fall victim to automatically renewing your insurance policies without a thorough review. Policies are not all created equal and it is important to know both coverages and exclusions. Just because a policy is titled “Employment Practices Liability,” for example, doesn’t mean that it covers all risks mentioned above as many exclude defense costs for wage and hour claims.

Reach out to an experienced insurance professional who specializes in the restaurant industry to review your coverages. Your business may depend on it!

– Tony Davenport, Vice President /SE Region
Restaurant Programs of America

VISIT FLORIDA Grant Application Cycle Opens in December

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Did you know that VISIT FLORIDA has a program in place which awards grants to help businesses market themselves and promote tourism in the State of Florida? If your hotel or restaurant hosts local events, or engages the community in a way that has significant economic impact in the tourism industry, you may consider applying for a VISIT FLORIDA Small Business Grant.

The Small Business Grant only has two easy-to-meet requirements to apply: Your business must be a Small Business Marketing Partner with VISIT FLORIDA and must not exceed $1.25 million in gross revenue annually. Your hotel or restaurant will also qualify if registered as a 501(c)(3) organization under IRS guidelines. This grant is a dollar for dollar matching grant, awarding up $5000 to a small business for the purpose of publicizing their tourism advantages in the State of Florida. This money can be used for marketing your business to promote tourism to Florida, from revamping your website to advertising an event your property hosts to draw in more visitors.VF Apply Now Button

In addition, VISIT FLORIDA administers the following grants:
• City-wide Meetings & Conventions Grant
• Advertising Matching Grant
• Cultural, Heritage, Rural and Nature Tourism Grant
• Minority Convention Grant

VISIT FLORIDA’s grant application cycle opens every December and closes in February. The application must be completed online; full details for the various grant programs can be found HERE including a list of prior year grant recipients.

VISIT FLORIDA also provides many marketing programs in addition to grants which can help businesses engage visitors and boost visitation. A Marketing Partnership with VISIT FLORIDA is a cost-effective and easy way to participate because it provides a host of benefits, including a robust listing on our website and in the Official Florida Vacation Guide. In addition to these features, you can also request posts to display on VISIT FLORIDA’s social media channels, furthering your reach to Florida visitors. Other benefits that indirectly help you target potential patrons include access to visitor research and free online hospitality training for front-line employees.

Visit the Online Marketing Planner to review opportunities to maximize your advertising budget and reach target audiences. Marketing Partners receive discounts on advertising and co-op programs ranging from 20% to 40% off, too! Some programs of interest include brochure distribution at the Official Florida Welcome Centers, a TripAdvisor Homepage Takeover, and World Travel Market. Opportunities in the planner are updated frequently, and include programs of all price ranges, so there is something for everyone’s budget.

VISIT FLORIDA’s goal is to maximize the economic impact of travel and tourism to Florida. By offering resources to businesses such as yours, we aim to empower you to continue bringing in more patrons to your hotels and guests to your restaurants. Join VISIT FLORIDA today!VF Apply Now Button
Article by Kate Chunka and Duncan Graham

Kate Chunka is the Partner Relations & Industry Communications Manager at VISIT FLORIDA®
Duncan Graham is the Partnership Services Coordinator at VISIT FLORIDA ®

Free WiFi: So Much More Than a Customer Service

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When it comes right down to it, there are only three ways to increase same-store revenues: get more customers, get existing customers to return more often, or get them to spend more on each visit either by selling them more product or by charging more for what they are already buying. Anything else is just a variation on one of those basic themes.

Sales promotion has long been used to drive these sorts of customer behaviors. Until recently, however, a challenge has been that it is often hard to target promotions to specific customers in order to maximize response and minimize waste. Promoting blindly can be costly. A coupon in the newspaper or dropped to a mail route may reach new prospects, but also risks discounting existing customers who would have been happy to pay full fare. These aren’t the results that stores want or need.

But what if you had the ability to identify and segment customers based on traits such as how often they visit your location, how long they stay, or how much they spend while they’re there? And what if you could target specific customers and trigger promotions automatically based on such behaviors? Three recent advances have made this easy for single- and multi-location stores alike, and explain the current surge in location-based customer analytics and marketing.

Click the button below to continue reading this article!

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Request for Letters of Interest Osceola County

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We’re proud to present opportunities for our members to grow their businesses throughout Florida. Below, is information on a Request for Letters of Interest from our friends in Osceola County.

  • This request includes a minimum of three hotel sites on properties owned by the County. Two of the hotels are planned for a major entertainment venue development and another hotel is included in a high-tech research mixed-use development.
  • Interested parties will need to register as a Vendor with Osceola County. Please see this FLYER for more information. Additionally, please note, this solicitation will be released in January 2016.
  • Interested parties please contact Rebecca Jones, Procurement Services Director directly. Her contact information is:
    • Rebecca Jones, CPPB, CPPO
      Procurement Services Director
      Osceola County BOCC
      1 Courthouse Square, Suite 2300
      Kissimmee, Florida 34741
      v. (407)742-0928
      f. (407)742-0901
      EMAIL

Have a Happy and Safe Holiday Season!

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The holidays are quickly approaching, and restaurants and bars need to exercise extra caution during this time of year. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, business increases, bartenders and servers are rushed, and customers tend to relax and participate in more celebrations that include alcohol. Servers and sellers of alcoholic beverages must be diligent in following protocol to ensure its safe and legal sale and service. Below are some basic reminders to ensure a safe, happy, healthy, and profitable holiday season.

  1. Be sure your alcohol compliance training is current. If it’s not or if you’re unsure, call Christy Crump at RCS at 850-224-2250 x252.
  1. Ask for ID from everyone who appears under the age of 30. Remember that acceptable forms of ID for the sale and service of alcohol are a state issued ID, a state issued or foreign driver’s license, a passport, and a U.S. military ID. Check the ID carefully for expiration date, birth year, and any sign that it could be fake or altered in any way. If you have any concerns about the validity of an ID, be sure a manager is involved.
  1. Be sure servers count drinks served to customers within a specific timeframe. Know what a drink is (1.5 oz. liquor, 5 oz. wine, 12 oz. beer), and be familiar with how quickly men and women usually become intoxicated. Avoid overserving, and you reduce liability for the server and the business.
  1. Watch for signs of intoxication such as slurred speech, stumbling, irrational behavior, loud voice, overly friendly and/or flirtatious. Slow or stop service before the customer loses control or is overserved. Offer food and nonalcoholic beverages as an alternative.
  1. Be sure managers are alerted and/or involved when cutting off a customer’s alcohol service, preventing a customer from driving drunk, and controlling behavior that may affect other customers.
  1. Plan ahead for taxis. Have taxi company numbers readily available to give to customers who should not be driving, and know if free taxi service is available in your area.

Follow these tips, and your customers, staff, and business will have a safer and happier holiday season.

If you have questions or concerns as you move into the busy holiday season, don’t hesitate to contact your RCS regional manager or RCS director of operations, Christy Crump at [email protected] or 850.224.2250 x252.

Join Us In Supporting Small Business Saturday!

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The Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association is proud to support Small Business Saturday®, the day dedicated to celebrating small, local businesses like yours. Make Nov 28 a day to remember for your business by being a part of it. So stand out and get involved. Here’s how:

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PLAN FOR THE DAY: Learn how to take advantage of the free downloadable marketing materials on ShopSmall.com to help you make the most of Small Business Saturday.

MAKE YOUR SHOP IRRESISTIBLE: Plan an in-store event to help attract more customers on the day.

BUILD BUZZ BEFORE THE DAY: Show your love and post about Small Business Saturday in your social channels to help drive awareness for your event and bring customers through your door using #ShopSmall.

Be a part of Small Business Saturday 2015 and help our communities grow and prosper. Go HERE to learn more.

Announcing Great Florida Events!

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FRLA’s In-State Marketing Program, newly re-branded as Great Florida Events, is sponsoring several events in 2015 – 2016 designed to draw Florida residents to unique events happening across the state.

Bulls on the Beach kicked off our event series with a rodeo featuring professional cowboys for two nights on Perdido Key hosted by the Flora-Bama Lounge and Oyster Bar. Next up, was the Island Hopper Songwriter Fest in Southwest Florida. Captiva Island, Ft. Myers Beach and Downtown Ft. Myers showcased more than 70 songwriters in 138 performances throughout the area over ten days.

The Sixth Annual Endless Summer Music Festival was held in Sandestin at the Village of Baytowne Wharf. This songwriters’ festival boasted 14 songwriters at numerous venues throughout the village. Our latest event, Blast on the Bay was held on Florida’s Forgotten Coast during a glorious weekend of cool nights and warm days. More than 30 songwriters played in Port St. Joe, Mexico Beach and Indian Pass.

Attendees at all of the songwriters’ festivals were treated to some of Country’s biggest hits, songwriters and the stories behind the songs. In addition, the Official FSU Seminole Tailgate is happening every Friday night before home football games and with live music, onsite vendors, and special appearances by celebrities and musicians, it has been a blast so far! Coming up, we have planned several more events that will be certain to thrill you.

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December 30, 2015: The Florida Citrus Parade in Orlando is one of the largest parades affiliated with a sporting event in the nation! High school marching bands, participating bowl game college marching bands, floats decorated with citrus, and other exciting happenings are all part of this awesome parade through downtown Orlando. Learn more here.

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January 24, 2016 – The Crab Smash & Oyster Bash Seafood Jubilee will be held in Port Canaveral. The kids are the stars at this fundraiser for Brevard County’s High School Culinary Programs as they prepare a seafood feast for visitors at the historic shrimp dock at Port Canaveral, FL. Enjoy Live Cajun Zydeco music while dining on Florida seafood!

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February 6-7, 2016: Clearwater Beach Uncorked is “touted as the hippest beachfront gastronomic event on Florida’s west coast.” Microbrews are also featured during this fabulous weekend on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Get all the details.

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February 27-28, 2016: The Downtown Food & Wine Fest is a two-day food and wine festival in the streets of Orlando, and trust us, this is where you want to be the last weekend of February! Signature dishes and bites from 30 of Orlando’s top restaurants will be featured along with domestic and international wines and live entertainment. If you need a break, stop by The Liquid Lounge to listen and dance to the music of Orlando’s hottest DJs. Find out more!

Stay tuned to FRLA for more information about our upcoming events!

Making Technology Work For You

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Technology has been and can be a huge asset to many businesses. In today’s society, there are so many different technological tools and resources to make your business better. Oftentimes what businesses don’t consider is how these tools can help retrieve the information they need to increase productivity and customer communication which will ultimately increase their profits. Examples of these tools include, loyalty programs, gift cards and email marketing. These different options help to benefit your company by extending reach, creating engagement, retaining customers and receiving feedback. Loyalty programs, gift cards and e-mail marketing are ways to help to focus on your current clients by retrieving information about their visit and notifying them about potential offers and deals. The goal is to keep your current customers loyal and happy which will result in increased sales and revenue.

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Another benefit of these technological tools is that they provide vital customer data which can be used to help to grow your business. Wi-Fi is an example of a technological tool that provides customer data which can help grow your business. Wi-Fi is no longer and “added plus” but is something that is expected to be included in most operating businesses. This form of technology will not only benefit your customers but will benefit your business as well. According to the media company, Examiner.com, “There is no better purpose for an organization to provide a good experience to their customers and information technology helps provide the infrastructure to manage customer data.” When customers connect to a supplier’s Wi-Fi it gives the customer a good experience and in return the supplier is able to retrieve and manage customer data and customer feedback. This new information is a huge asset because now as a business you are able to use the collected data to conduct market research. The market research will help to inform your business what you need improve upon and where you need to move your focus to keep your customers loyal. Without having this data as a business you are lacking vital information that has the potential to help maintain and grow your company.

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Almost all businesses want to use technology; however, most of them don’t want to deal with the labor that comes with it. Unfortunately there have not been many efficient ways when it comes to growing a company’s user base due to the manual process it takes to collect and enter this data. There is no need for a business to hold the responsibility of manually collecting and calculating the loyalty, proximity and usage of a customer. Oftentimes this leads businesses to avoid these tools altogether. What they don’t understand is that by avoiding these tools altogether; they are lacking vital information that has the potential to help their business grow tremendously. Luckily, there are companies like Captive Eyes who help to create that interactive experience for your customers, while automating data collection for third party systems. Technology is a beautiful thing and if used efficiently can benefit your business greatly, increasing sales and profits.