Successes and Plans for the Great American Dine Out
Posted by Jenna Hall on Friday, November 13, 2009
I remember this time last year, being at the first Conference of Leaders I ever attended. I had just joined Share Our Strength the previous August and, truthfully, had no idea what to expect. The platform I coordinate, the Great American Dine Out, was still in its infancy, and we had not even finished collecting the totals from Dine Out week from the previous month. And while Taste of the Nation, Bake Sale, and many others had a legion of volunteers and corporate partners joining them, we didn’t have a strong network yet.
This year was different.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the conference last year and was very much looking forward to this year’s event as well, but having the opportunity to see, in person, the faces of the people behind these brands, was especially powerful for me. It gives a human aspect to what I’ve always pictured as a machine, a restaurant brand can often seem larger than life. But shaking hands with all of these personable CEOs and Marketing gurus felt like being in the Wizard of Oz when they realize the great and powerful Oz was really just a guy.
In our first ever Great American Dine Out session, titled “Successes and Plans,” the excitement was palpable. I was surrounded by incredible individuals from Joe’s Crab Shack, McAlister’s Deli, Corner Bakery Café, Buffalo Wild Wings, Taco Bueno, and several others, who had worked so hard to raise a tremendous amount for the Dine Out this year. Over $350,000 was raised by the companies of those in the room alone, over half of what we raised in the first year of Dine Out. And the echoed theme during the meeting was “we can do more, we will do more.”
Ray Blanchette, CEO of Joe’s Crab Shack and Chairman of the Great American Dine Out board, helped to lead the discussion and chimed in several times with his suggestions of ways to make the program better. Ray, being a down-to-earth and very approachable guy, believes the Dine Out will be a vehicle for the organization to raise awareness across the country, mobilizing huge restaurant brands to unite despite the usual corporate competition. The Dine Out may even come to be a larger-than-life force ending childhood hunger in America.
We’re on to something big. Ray said it multiple times throughout the conference, saying out loud what’s always been in the back of my mind: we have a great opportunity here. The restaurant industry has always been generous in their support. They give so much to their communities and in particular have been invaluable for Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America. As we continue to grow, childhood hunger in America will lessen. The larger we get, the smaller the number of kids who worry when their next meal will come.
November 13, 2009 | | Tags: conference of leaders, Great American Dine Out
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