The Dish | December 2020

The Dish A P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E N E W H A M P S H I R E L O D G I N G A N D R E S T A U R A N T A S S O C I A T I O N

Issue No. 09

• December 2020 • Cover Photo: Buckley's Bakery & Cafe

Holiday Stress

Hospitality Employees

Stars of the Industry

How to boost morale while lowering stress.

A thank you for their extraordinary work this year.

page 9

A recap of our annual awards ceremony.

page 11

page 21

Inside YOUR GUIDE TO ISSUE NO. 9

5

Holiday Sheds

Great NH Restaurants get creative for gift card promo

8

Education Update

NH ProStart students compete in gingerbread/cookie contest

9

Managing Employee Stress

How to boost morale while lowering stress this holiday season

Thumbs up at Bad Lab Beer Co.

11 Hospitality Heroes

A thank you to NH's hospitality employees

13 Religious

EEOC Publishes Proposed Religious Discrimination Guidance for Public Comment

21 Stars of the Industry

A recap of this year's event

Discrimination

The staff at Zorvino Vineyards.

Cover Photo by Buckley's Bakery & Cafe. Locations in Hollis and Merrimack.

Cheers at Portsmouth Brewery.

www.nhlra.com  | 2

2020 Chairman of the Board

Jay Bolduc Great NH Restaurants 2020 VIce Chair of Lodging

Gail Batstone Owl's Nest Resort & Golf Club 2020 VIce Chair of Restaurants

John Dunn Michael Timothy's Dining Group NHLRA President and CEO

Mike Somers NHLRA Director of Education and Workforce Development

Amie Pariseau NHLRA Membership Manager and Director of Workers' Compensation Trust

Samantha MacDonald NHLRA Social Media and Marketing Manager

Pamela Baker Ad rates and submission guidelines: nhlra.com www.nhlra.com  | 4

MEMBER UPDATE

GREAT NH RESTAURANTS GET CREATIVE WITH HOLIDAY SHEDS! Holiday-themed sheds featured at Great NH Restaurants for annual gift card promotion during pandemic.

By Great NH Restaurants

During

the

holidays

restaurants have looked secure

seasonal

sales

that

locations

busy

gift

help

to

card

cards social sheds

while

maintaining

distancing. are

keep

December

throughout

December

These

open 19th

from through

24th allowing

the winter months. To help

guests to

secure those sales Great NH

minute

Restaurants has decked out

safely with a little bit of fun!

outdoor

sheds

Plus, guests receive a bonus of

easily

five dollars for every twenty-five

where

holiday guests

can

and quickly purchase gift

make

gift

card

their

last-

purchases

dollars spent. www.nhlra.com  | 5

Great NH Restaurants built

Guests can also purchase gift

“We want guests to know

the sheds to reduce the

cards to be mailed & eGift

that responsible restaurants

gathering of guests in the

cards that can be sent direct

are safe and now, more than

lobby during the busy sales

to

ever, is the time to support

season and for guests who

through their website.

the

recipient’s

inbox

local

want to purchase gift cards

businesses”

in person but aren’t quite

As we know, the restaurant

ready to go inside yet. “Our

industry has been hit very

restaurants

hard

are

extremely

and

by

the

pandemic.

says

Click here to purchase gift

Operators continue to be

card

protocols in place to ensure

innovative and stay on top of

Cotton Door.

guest safety, including newly

the

installed

guidance

NASA

grade

air

and

Tom

Boucher.

safe, and we have dozens of

ever-changing

community

for

T-Bones

gift

or

state

regulations.

purifiers that destroy 99.97%

Like many local restaurant

of viruses, but the outdoor

owners,

holiday sheds give guests

Restaurants

another option. We think all

about sales during the winter

guests will love them. They’re

and early spring, as outdoor

very festive!” says CEO Tom

dining is no longer an option.

Great are

NH nervous

Boucher

www.nhlra.com | 6

EDUCATION UPDATE

Gingerbread House/ Sugar Cookie Contest

Judge's Favorite

Alexandra Pinkerton Academy

By Amie Pariseau, NHLRA Education & Workforce Development Director Career

and

Technical

Education

certainly looks different in 2020.

Some of our ProStart students are in school five days a week, some are there two days a week, and some are completely

remote.

For

students

who strive with hands-on learning, this has been a tricky time for them and their teachers. ProStart teachers asked for some fun, challenging

First Place - Gingerbread House

Best Attenton to Detail

Fitch Pinkerton Academy

Peyton Pinkerton Academy

First Place - Cookie People

First Place - Seasonal Creations

contests.

We

hosted

hopefully,

our

first

annual)

(and

now

Gingerbread

House/ Sugar Cookie Contest. This contest

was

designed

to

be

accessible for students if they were in school or at home. They could bake their items from scratch or use a store bought gingerbread kit. They competed

in

three

categories-

Katelynn White Mountains Regional High School

Dylan White Mountains Regional High School

Gingerbread House, Cookie People, and Seasonal Creations.

Best Holiday Theme

Congratulations to our winners from Pinkerton

Academy,

Plymouth

Jorga Plymouth Regional High School

Regional High School, and White Mountains Regional High School! www.nhlra.com  | 8

WELLNES S

Stay ahead of the stress and conflict by acknowledging there will be more tough days ahead. Don’t let it get the better of you.

HOW TO BOOST MORALE WHILE LOWERING STRESS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

By National Restaurant Association With four in 10 restaurants closing, more than $240 billion in losses by the end of the year, and one in six employees still out of a job, the restaurant industry has suffered more than any other industry since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

for restaurants as the holidays draw near. Stay ahead of the stress and conflict by acknowledging there will be more tough days ahead. Don’t let it get the better of you. Here are tips to manage stress and boost morale in an unrelenting year.

"The first step in helping your team handle stress this holiday?

Actively listening so they know they’re heard."

We’re also about to enter one of the most stressful seasons www.nhlra.com | 9

Be genuine. These are hard times and your employees are likely to share some bad news from their personal life with you. Instead of reacting with platitudes that everything will be okay, set the tone with transparency and empathy. If they’re telling you their babysitter just quit or that their partner lost their job, empathize with them, tell them you’re glad they are here, and ask how you can help.

Stay engaged. Acknowledge that you don’t have the all the answers to every complex problem. Instead focus on what you can control—how you show up to support one another.

Operations of all sizes are using the following to stay engaged with staff throughout the pandemic: Hosting a weekly zoom call to understand how team members and their families are coping and what challenges they’re facing.

Arranging daily contactless meal pickups for employees and their families.

Establishing employee assistance programs that offer up to six free counseling sessions.

Be aware of your energy. In stressful situations, practice mindfulness in order to stay present and nonreactive.

Otherwise, the stress is likely to escalate and get blown out of proportion. Here are some steps you can take to better manage your reaction:

Take three deep, slow breaths before you say anything Roll your shoulders back to release tension Spread your fingers or toes in order to use a physical action to reset your system in order to calm down Reframe conflicts. We think of conflicts as negative but take a minute to consider that they can be neutral and a natural part of living and relating with other complex individuals in complex situations. Instead, embrace the idea of conflict as a means towards finding a solution. Here are some tips to change the tenor of conflicts:

Intentionally assign positive intent to the other party Give them the benefit of the doubt

Check your assumptions about what you think they mean with their words Actively listen. When we’re given a chance to speak, we’re given an opportunity to feel heard and we automatically feel more understood. Really listening is an act of holding space for that person—a signal that they matter. Good listening is essential to building trust as well as genuinely motivating and engaging people. Here are some ways to ensure you are listening effectively:

Reflect back what people are saying by paraphrasing them Ask them to elaborate on a point that they've made or clarify something Acknowledge their points with phrases such as “I hear what you are saying about…” to reinforce that you’ve listened carefully It will be an unusual holiday season to say the least, but by using the tools above, you can show your team members that you truly hear them and what they say matters.

Tap into FREE mental and medical health resources for the industry.

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SPECIAL FEATURE

Hospitality Heroes

THANK YOU NH HOSPITALITY WORKERS Throughout the crisis this year, you - NH's 72,000 hospitality employees have been on the front lines working to feed your communities and provide safe lodging stays. Almost overnight, you learned new safety and sanitation protocols and adapted to new guidelines from state and federal agencies.

And while most of the world worked from home, you showed up day after day, changing glove after glove, always with a smile underneath your masks.

Thank you for your hard work during this challenging year.

Your adaptability, resiliency, patience, and commitment to safety make us proud to be a part of this industry.

For all of us who have gone out to eat, ordered takeout, visited a brewery, or stayed at a hotel, you've been a bright light in a dark year.

WITH GRATITUDE, THE NHLRA TEAM

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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

MEET SOME OF THE HARDWORKING EMPLOYEES WHO HELPED KEEP THINGS RUNNING DURING THE PANDEMIC

Aiden Joy at Sassy Biscuit Co.

Oliver Harston at Burnt Timber Brewing & Tavern In a little over a year, Oli has gone from washing dishes at a retirement home where he would come in to Burnt Timber as a patron for a beer and to talk about food. He is now the restaurant manager of our small brewpub. Aside from the normal day-to-day tasks, he has lead kimchi fermentation seminars, 7 course farmer’s dinners , and partnered with local non-profits to arrange take and bake meals for low income families in the community.

Aiden Joy lives up to his name. He has been an asset to our team since he began working for our company. His smile and positivity attitude keep the kitchen staff motivated to crank out the amazing scratch made food our guests enjoy eating. We appreciate all that he does as well as the rest of our Sassy Staff!

Cassie at Puritan Cassie has been at the Backroom for nine years.

She continually goes above and beyond for her guests, and our Puritan family. This year, Cassie has worked in multiple departments, helping the Puritan navigate through this pandemic, all with a smile!

Thank you Cassie for all you do!

The Front Line Staff at the Common Man Roadside (Hooksett, Manchester, and Plymouth) Our staffs continue to provide safe and outstanding service to our customers during these challenges times. All have received additional health and safety training. It's a little tougher to see with the masks, but they are smiling!

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EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT CONTINUED

RADAR

The Dedicated Staff at Guiseppe's Pizzeria & Ristorante in Meredith Giuseppe’s Pizzeria & Ristorante is a family owned and operated full-service festive Italian restaurant located in the heart of Meredith, New Hampshire known for being “Very Musical, Very Italian and Very Good!" Giuseppe’s owes its success and reputation to its customers and to its employees. There have been so many great employees that have worked at Giuseppe’s over the past 31 years, under the leadership of owners Julie Gnerre-Bourgeois and Michael Bourgeois, however, there is an astonishing number of employees who have been with the company for over 5 years, 10 years, and over 20 years who deserve awards and recognition.

The following employees are recognized for their devotion and years of service: James Dorval (28 years), Bethany Lamprey (28 Years), Dan Welch (26 Years), Alexander White (26 Years), Christopher Rice (24 Years), Catherine Leonard (24 Years), Frank Leonard (24 Years), Shawn Hurd (22 Years), Derek Finno (20 Years), Brian Bourgeois (17 Years), Brian Martin (17 Years), Benjamin Brewer (17 Years), Janelle Desrosiers (14 Years), Jonathan Malek (14 Years), Dakota Harrison (14 Years), Jay Reardon (13 Years), Ashley Harrison (12 Years), Meg Plummer (13 Years), Buster Burrows (11 Years), Wendy Anderson (8 Years), Shawn Bertholet (8 Years), Jacob Bolduc (8 Years), Katharyn Wonders (8 Years), Cameron Lamprey (7 Years), Matthew Norton (7 Years), Ashley Bussolari (6 ½ Years), Nate Lamprey (6 Years), Matthew Meegan (5 years), Skylor Miller (5 Years), Gregory Regis (5 Years), Melissa Seeley (5 years), Jake Valpey (5 Years).

Katie and Jacob

Emily and Greg Regis

The Team at Luca's Mediterranean Cafe In this video, the staff at Luca's Mediterranean Cafe in Keene share their experience adapting during the COVID-19 pandemic. "As a team, we created a plan. Without them, this doesn't happen," says owner Luca Paris.

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LEGAL UPDATE

EEOC Publishes Proposed Religious Discrimination Guidance for Public Comment EMPLOYER OBLIGATIONS WITH OVER 50 EXAMPLES

By Christopher T. Vrountas, Esq. and Allison C. Ayer, Esquire, Vrountas, Ayer & Chandler, P.C.

Just before Thanksgiving, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) published proposed new guidance regarding religious discrimination in the workplace. The 100+ page guidance explains an employer’s obligations regarding religion discrimination mostly by giving common examples of how religion and workplace rules tend to collide and if and how the scenarios violate the law. In fact, the EEOC

guidance provides over 50 different examples to help employers understand workplace scenarios which implicate Title VII’s prohibition against religious discrimination. The format of the guidance offers critical insight into how the EEOC views religious discrimination claims.

As real-life examples often provide a helpful way to understand confusing legal standards,

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the guidance also provides practical ways to deal with these issues in day-to-day operations.

While some might assume the guidance would be proemployer because it is timed right before the end of a Republican administration, it actually trends the opposite way, suggesting that employers have significant duties to accommodate religious beliefs and practices. This likely stems from the political influence of advocates for religious freedom who make up such a large part of President Trump’s support.

With that said, the guidance makes abundantly clear that religion is an extremely thorny issue and employers must be cautious and openminded when religion and

work intersect.

For this reason, employers should review the guidance in its entirety. In the meantime, here are some of the highlights: What is Protected Religion?

Given that Title VII protects an employee’s religion, not social, political, or economic philosophies, or mere personal preferences, the EEOC guidance begins bydiscussing what constitutes protected “religion”. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(j). Title VII’s protections apply whether or not religious views are mainstream or nontraditional, and regardless of whether they are recognized by an organized religion or based on a belief in God or gods. Protected religion so encompasses moral or ethical beliefs as to what is right and wrong which are

al sincerely held with the strength of traditional religious views, and it covers employees who are NOT religious or who do not engage in religious practices.

Moreover, although the religious belief/practice for accommodation must be “sincerely held,” the fact that belief deviates from commonly followed tenets of religion does not necessarily mean the standard is not met. The employers’ opinion of the logic or reasonableness of a religious view is largely irrelevant in evaluating religious discrimination.

Here are some examples from the guidance: An employee practices the Kemetic religion, based on ancient Egyptian faith, and affiliates himself with a tribe numbering fewer than ten members explains that it would be a sin to cover his tattoos intentionally because doing so would signify a rejection of the Egyptian god of the sun This can be religious practice even if no one else subscribes to it. BUT...

An employee who refuses to cover a tattoo of her favorite band because she feels so

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passionately about it that it is essentially her only religion need not be accommodated because her beliefs about the band do not relate to “ultimate concerns” about life, purpose, death, humanity’s place in the universe, right and wrong, or any moral or ethical belief system.

According to the EEOC, her beliefs about the band are a personal preference that is not religious in nature.

What Type of Conduct is Prohibited? Discrimination Affecting Terms/Conditions and Harassment

The proposed guidance also uses examples to demonstrate that Title VII prohibits religious discrimination in any of the terms and conditions of employment. Generally, this means that an employer may not refuse to recruit, hire or promote individuals and may not impose different work requirements on an employee because of that employee’s religious beliefs or practices.

Employers also cannot discipline or discharge employees because of their religion. This is true even when the employment decision is based on customer preference.

Title VII’s prohibition against religious discrimination also

covers harassment. As with any other claim of this type, the conduct must be “sufficiently severe or pervasive ‘to alter the conditions” of the employee’s employment and create an abusive working environment,” and it must be unwelcome.

An isolated, unwelcomecomment about religion will not be enough to violate Title VII. But the proposed guidance also makes clear that there can be religious harassment whether or not religion is specifically mentioned during the harassment.

These are some of the examples offered by the EEOC to drive these concepts home: - Promotion. An employee who practices Buddhism is rejected for promotion in favor of a non-Buddhist candidate who was less qualified.

The company advises the employee that he was not selected because “wedecided to go in a different direction.” But, the vice president confides to coworkers that a Christian manager was selected instead because he could make better personal connections with the firm’s clients, many of whom are Christian.

This suggests pretext for religious discrimination, according to the EEOC.

- Discipline. A retail store manager does not discipline an employee who is frequently 10-15 minutes late for her shift to attend Mass at a Catholic church, but he does discipline a newly hired clerk who is Muslim, and arrives 10 minutes late due to his attendance at services at the local mosque. While the employer can require similarly situated employees to be punctual, it discriminates based on religion by applying different discipline standards to employees of different religions.

Other Terms and Conditions. A secretary is allowed to display a Bible on her desk at work, but another secretary is asked to put the Quran out of view because, his coworkers “will think you are making a political statement, and with everything going on in the world right now we don’t need that around here.” Such disparate treatment constitutes religious discrimination.

- Termination. Weeks after a coffee shop hires a cashier who wears a turban as part of his Sikh religion, the work crew from the construction site near the shop no longer comes in because they believe the cashier is uslim.

The EEOC says that it would violate the law for the coffee shop toterminate the employee based on customer preference and

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regardless of whether he was actually Muslim, Sikh, or any other religion.

- Religious Harassment. If they occur with enough frequency, it could be religious harassment for an employee to persist with talking to another employee about her prospects for salvation after she tells the employee he has “crossed the line.” Even if the employee has willingly talked with this work colleague for months about religion, the employee should stop having non-workrelated conversations with her after she expresses that the conduct is unwelcome...BUT it is not harassment if an employee is offended by conversations he overhears between coworkers, one of whomis a Buddhist, discussing meditation techniques. Such conversations do not constitute religious harassment, particularly given that they do not insult other religions and they were not directed at him.

Providing Religious Accommodations

The EEOC guidance spends a great deal of time explaining employers’ obligation to give religious accommodations unless it would cause “undue hardship.”

See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), (2).

Typically, this plays out when an employer advises an applicant or employee of its policies and practices, and in response the person indicates that an accommodation is needed for religious reasons.

Some common religious accommodations include: scheduling changes, voluntary substitutes, shift swaps, change of job tasks, or transfers, and modifications to work places policies and procedures, including in particular grooming and dress code policies, use of employer facilities for prayer time, employer identification procedures and/or other forms of religious expression in the workplace.

There are no “magic words” an employee needs to use to ask for a religious accommodation.

Moreover, there ae scenarios where an employer is on notice of the need for a religious accommodation even if the applicant or employee does not specifically state that an accommodation is needed.

In such circumstances, it would violate Title VII for an employer to fail to provide a reasonable accommodation unless it proves that doing so would pose an undue hardship. Once the employer is aware of the employee’s religious conflict, the employer should promptly obtain the information it needs to determine whether a reasonable accommodation is available without posing an undue hardship on the employer’s business.

This typically involves the employer and applicant/employee cooperatively sharing information necessary to process the accommodation request, much like the “interactive process” required when processing requests for accommodations for disabilities.

To read this full article, visit our Legal Center.

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Stars of the Industry On Monday, November 16, New Hampshire's hospitality industry came together at the NHLRA's annual Stars of the Industry to recognize outstanding hospitality professionals. In the words of NHLRA Chairman of the Board Jay Bolduc, "If there was ever a year to celebrate the industry and each other, this is the year."

All state, federal, and CDC guidelines were followed during the event.

Catering/Function Facility of the Year winner, Brian Ferguson of Flag Hill Catering & Events.

Innkeepers of the Year recipients, Gary and Sandra Plourde of The Christmas Farm Inn/Thayers Inn.

Winners received a personal letter of congratulations from Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

A beautiful dinner was served by the team at the Grappone Conference Center.

Allied Member of the Year winner, Paul Kirschbaum of Gordon Food Service.

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Prior to the awards ceremony, the NHLRA held its annual membership meeting.

Rob and Lisa North were honored for their charitable work this year, including leading the charge on the successful collaboration of "Gratuity."

Thank You

EVENT SPONSORS CENTERPIECE

TABLE WINE

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

PROGRAM AND SIGNAGE

CHEERS TO THE INDUSTRY

STRATEGIC SPONSORS

16 Centre Street Concord, NH 03301 | (603) 228 - 9585 | nhlra.com