From the CEO

The Bright Light at the End of the Tunnel

Skeleton crews, pinching pennies, and refreshing webpages in hopes of securing relief funds. The life of the hospitality business owner and the lives of your teams will be forever changed by the reality we continue to face.

I’ve had the privilege of working in a business association leadership role for close to 10 years now – four years leading the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and close to six years with ORLA as your President & CEO. It is hard to describe in words how different this past year has been compared to all the others. As you can most likely attest to, more than half the battle in leadership roles is staying tenacious, fighting for wins within your control, and standing on integrity and honesty with every step.

A year like the one we have all experienced has the potential to break people in leadership positions. The ridiculousness of two-week at a time business operation for restaurants or local governments shutting down lodging operations due to panic and fear showcases just how important it is for individuals to stand up and seriously consider roles in elected office. If you look ahead, one of many byproducts of a year full of industry inequity will be more individuals awakening to the idea that they have something to offer their community on top of running a business. Many of you have the skills and talents to inspire those in your community and if you find yourself mulling opportunities to run for office, we would love to hear from you.

As we reflect on a year that includes a once in a century crisis along with the crises of fire and ice layered on top, there is one noun that comes to mind to describe Oregon’s hospitality industry - breadth. Webster defines the word as ‘the distance from side to side.’ Our state association, even after everything we’ve endured, still includes well over 2,000 member locations with most of those operators running one to two-unit businesses and embracing a scrappy leadership mentality to get their business through the muck of 2020 and 2021. Within our membership is the stark truth that many have not been able to make the numbers work for their business overall or for specific locations. Others have found success by ramping up foodservice in the safety of hotel rooms or by making considerable shifts to user-friendly to-go and delivery models.

The breadth of our industry exists because our world continues to move towards a growing demand for customization. The bones of that diversification in Oregon will prove to be one of our biggest assets. This past year, ORLA has had to dig deep and find a new gear. The professional team which includes 15 staff have been incredibly committed to chalking up one win after another with a focus on what we can accomplish next. With so many ongoing restrictions in place targeting our industry we feel it’s an important exercise to showcase what we have done together over the past year. The pace of work and outcomes driven are not meant to diminish all that we have lost. Rather, this exercise is our attempt to put in words the level of activity taken on by your association when we have been called upon for a level of leadership needed to keep industry infrastructure in place so we are all prepared for the pentup demand to come. ORLA’s ‘Year in Review’ can be found in this edition of our magazine on page 8.

If you’re like us at ORLA grappling with the realities within and out of your control, we hope you take a moment to recap all you have accomplished this past year. Use it to fuel your work and provide the energy boost needed to make it through our final stretch in 2021 and toward much better times.

Thank you for standing alongside us and fighting hard for the importance of Oregon’s hospitality industry. Let’s continue telling our story knowing there are some great chapters ahead for our hardworking employees and the future of your business.  JASON BRANDT,

PRESIDENT & CEO, ORLA

Jason Brandt serves as the President & CEO of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association. He can be reached via email at JBrandt@oregonrla.org.