Membership Restaurant Memberships

Restaurant Memberships

GGRA Group Purchasing Discount Program

The goal of this program is to save restaurant members money on operating costs. The concept is simple: provide information, and negotiate product and service agreements with the purchasing power of the entire restaurant membership instead of as an individual restaurant. Take advantage of the program options to maximize the value of your membership.

ADA CASp Inspections

American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuits continue to take a toll on all businesses in San Francisco. What businesses don't realize is taking the time to do a review of accessibility often leads to an achievable list of "reasonable modifications" that can be accomplished, and is often all that is necessary to ensure ADA compliance. To assist restaurants with this, GGRA has partnered with Bassam Altwal of Cal Accessibility. Bassam is a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) who is widely regarded and sought after to assist businesses with the steps they need to take to become and remain in compliance.

There are several ways Cal Accessibility will work with your business as part of this partnership. Cal Accessibility will provide a general check on drawings for renovation or new construction; provide a free, one-time 45 minute consultation with you at the GGRA office or on site. Cal Accessibility will also do a general check on drawings at a discounted rate of $90/hour. This is half the normal rate for this service. For more information about this program contact either Bassam Altwal at (415) 310-3010 or Associate Director, Donnalyn Murphy at the GGRA at (415) 781-5348 ext 2 or donnalyn@ggra.org.

To hear Bassam Altwal discuss ADA awareness and what businesses can do to stay compliant, listen to this interview with KALW's Chuck Finney on his show "Your Legal Rights" recorded September 28. San Francisco Supervisor Carmen Chu and Regina Dick-Endrizzi of the Office of Small Business are also part of the discussion. To listen, click here: Your Legal Rights, Small Businesses and Disability Access.

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Credit Card Processing

Bank of America Merchant Services has partnered with the Golden Gate Restaurant association to provide credit card processing services with excellent Interchange Pass-thru plus pricing. Bank of America Merchant Services is also able to offer next day funding if you have a deposit account with Bank of America. Take advantage of this excellent program today! Contact Kim Stapleton-MacBeath at 214.257.2316 or at kim.stapleton-macbeath@bankofamericamerchant.com or contact Christy Russo at (214) 257-2318 or at chrisy.russo@bankofamericamerchant.com about the Golden Gate Restaurant Association merchant processing program for a free analysis of your current credit card processing and pricing proposal.

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CTI Tax Credit Program

GGRA is proud to announce Corporate Tax Incentives (CTI) as a new Preferred Vendor. CTI provides federal, state and local tax credit application recovery services for which virtually all restaurants qualify. The GGRA has been reviewing this industry for 4 years working to find an appropriate company and solution to accessing the myriad of tax credits available to our members. Earlier efforts to maximize the number and amount of tax credits were not as complete, required some level of payment before the actual tax credits were realized, and often came with fees totalling 35% of cedits received. CTI offers a complete program. There is no cost for the initial review. Actual cost becomes a percentage of tax credits realized when the actual credits are received, with a cap not to exceed 20% of total savings. The GGRA is pleased with the thoroughness of CTI's review program, and the reasonable individual restaurant fee options for payment. The potential savings can be substantial: one employee qualifying under the California Enterprise Zone Hiring Credit yields up to a $37,000 tax credit over a five year period of time. Take advantage of the opportunity by contacting Taz Singh at (916) 837-4215.

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Employee Manual

Members can access an employee handbook by e-mailing membership@ggra.org and requesting a copy. In order to receive the handbook, you must be a current GGRA member and sign the liability release and fax it back to us at (415) 781-3925. Once we receive your signed liability release, we will forward the zip file that contains the employee handbook, requiring the member to download the file, and to edit the file to meet their specific policies (such as entering the restaurant name so the handbook becomes an individual document for the restaurant member). Customizing will take about an hour and be ready to print for individual restaurant use.

Additional files that are contained in the zip file include:

  • Meal and rest period acknowledgment and waiver forms
  • California hire and fire packet
  • Written warning form
  • Employee performance evaluation form

pdfEmployee Manual Liability Release

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Food Safety Certification

Courses provided by the GGRA in conjunction with instructors from the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The certificates are valid nationwide. Members receive a 50% discount on FSC courses, reducing the cost from $150 to $75 per person including textbook, course, test and certificate. Certification is good for 5 years. Courses offered in English, Spanish and Japanese (in conjunction with Northern California Japanese Restaurant Association). Please call Donnalyn Murphy, Director of Educational Services, at (415) 781-5348 ext 2. or e-mail her at donnalyn@ggra.org. Meet the California certification requirement and increase safety in food handling procedures.

For information on dates and times for FSC, please refer to our Education page.

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Government Relations and Industry Advocacy

The GGRA monitors potential legislation at the local and state level. We evaluate each piece of proposed legislation for its merit and its impact on our members, the restaurant industry, and our community. We weigh in through meetings with our elected officials, emails defining our issues and concerns, organizing testimony at public hearings and working with other business groups and associations to coordinate our efforts. We communicate regularly with the California Restaurant Association to compare information and positions on current topics.

The GGRA maintains a Political Action Committee (PAC). The PAC raises money through employee dues and fund-raising events. PAC money can be spent in the political process: to support or oppose a ballot measure, to support or oppose a specific candidate. The GGRA utilizes the PAC when appropriate to support or protect our members.

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Group Health Insurance Plans

Benefaction specializes in designing, implementing and servicing insurance and benefit plans for businesses, families and individuals. Please contact Samantha Ehlen at (415) 329-4299 or e-mail he at Samantha@benefaction-ins.com. She will research and customize the myriad of plan choices available to each member.

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Human Resources

HRI is proud to continue to offer GGRA members the legally required posters at a significant discounted rate. We offer an all in one poster that includes San Francisco/California/Federal posters at the discounted rate of only $25.00 per poster. Posters are available in Spanish & English.

This year we have also developed a Restaurant Safety Awareness poster to address OSHA requirements, help reduce injuries in the workplace and provide some level of information to your employees. The Restaurant Safety Awareness poster includes: Emergency First Aid; Hand Washing; Slips, Trips & Falls; Safe Lifting; Heat Stress; Cold Stress; Safe Knife Handling; Fire Extinguisher; and Smoke-Free Workplace. The poster is available in Spanish and English and sells for the same price as the all in one poster, only $25.00.

Please contact Deisy Bach at (925) 556-4404 or e-mail her at dbach@hrideas.com if you have any questions.

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Lectures and Seminars

The goal of GGRA Educational Services is to give you up-to-date training and the latest industry-related information conveniently and cost effectively. We offer a wide array of seminars including ABD LEAD Seminars, Sexual Harassment Seminars. For information on upcoming seminars, please refer to our Education page.

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Marketing

The GGRA hosts an online dining guide where each member restaurant is listed by name, cuisine and location. Each member restaurant has a link to their website on the dining guide as well as a short business blurb, their address, their phone number and a jpg of either their logo or of their restaurant. The site is available to the dining public, with over 300 page views monthly. Please refer to our Dining Guide here.

In 2009 the GGRA created SF Chefs, a week long event on Union Square celebrating the restaurants, chefs and products of Northern California and the Greater Bay Area. More than 200 chefs participated in the inaugural event. GGRA restaurants and their chefs have priority status to participate in SF Chefs. In addition to 5,000 attendees, SF Chefs produced over 300 million media impressions to support our industry.

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Natural Gas Program

Through PG&E’s Customer Choice Program, Commercial Energy offers GGRA members a discount on their purchase of natural gas. Members save approximately 8-12% on their annual natural gas costs through an exclusive GGRA agreement. PG&E is still responsible for all of the delivery, transportation, meter reads and billing so your service with PG&E remains exactly the same.

"As natural gas is essential to running our restaurants, we were very concerned about switching from PG&E to a 3rd party gas company. However, after several meetings with Commercial Energy they assured us that the switch would be seamless and that no disruption of service would occur. After six months of positive results we decided to sign up Rose Pistola. We have been working with Commercial Energy for 5 years now – just in the past 18 months we’ve saved over $4,500. I would highly recommend Commercial Energy to any restaurant looking to reduce their energy costs. " - Laurie Thomas, CEO, Nice Ventures, Inc.

Commercial Energy is a local and family-owned natural gas production company that was founded in 1958. Today, service currently includes over 9,000 locations in the Bay Area. Commercial Energy also offers a variety of services including lighting and refrigeration geared towards lowering electricity costs. To schedule a free site consultation please contact Jens Hansen at (650) 773-1578 or e-mail him at jens.hansen@commercialenergy.net.

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Payroll Processing

Payroll Resource Group is a full service payroll and payroll tax processing company based in San Francisco. With an emphasis on service for over 15 years, you can count on their reliability and accuracy. Standard payroll features include: web system, preprocessed register, SF sick accrual tracking, pay history, multi-rates, workers comp tracking, tips - in/out, and meal coding. For a free payroll evaluation and to receive a GGRA member setup discount, please contact Candace Rice at (415) 249-4016 or crice@p-r-g.com.

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Point of Sale Hardware and Software

Micros Systems, Inc offers GGRA members a 10% savings on all hardware and software when purchasing any new Micro's Point of Sale system. For further information contact Dianne Marcotte at (510) 263-1142 or e-mail her at DMarcotte@micros.com.

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Used Fryer Oil Recycling Program

Got Grease has a goal to provide bay area restaurants with a cost effective, environmental alternative for waste cooking grease disposal. Your waste cooking grease, as smelly as it can be, can make a positive impact on both the environment and the local economy. GGRA members can sign up for free, receive free contains and pick up is also free. Contact David Levinson at (415) 728-8766 or at gotgreasesf@yahoo.com for more info.

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Workers' Compensation Insurance

In 2009 we are endorsing two worker's compensation/insurance programs. Members of the Board of Directors have had good experiences with both companies, and voted in our January 2009 Board meeting to endorse both.

The first company is VANTREO, a full service insurance brokerage serving San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. The company president, Lynne Wallace, has had a relationship with the GGRA for over 10 years. VANTREO offers two programs that are tailor made for restaurants. The first program designed for larger or multi location restaurants is Compzone, a systematic approach to manage claims to closure, eliminate errors in the pricing system and align the team to keep people well and working. The second program is Backstage Advantage, a program designed to assist the small business owner with hotlines on Workers Compensation, Human Resources, and Taxes. The program allows restaurant management to ask questions about individual situations prior to submitting administration. Lynne Wallace can be reached at (415) 922-2300 x 222 or at lwallace@vantreo.com.

The second company is Mill Valley Insurance, a full service insurance brokerage specializing in serving the restaurant community. The company president, Ron Gurewitz, is the second generation in his family brokerage. Ron has provided excellent cost rates for our workers compensation program for several years. In 2009 an additional option is available: a self insured program ideal for larger independent restaurants and small companies. We have monitored the self insured market for several years and are comfortable the state's additional requirements of the self insured market has reduced concerns as the business model has developed. Ron Gurewitz can be reached at (415) 389-7140 or at ron@millvalleyinsurance.com.

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