Standard Operational Procedures Restaurant Nights

Basic Details Event Manager and POC: Vicki Bokhari victoriabokhari@gmail.com Time Line: Once a month – Sept thru May Dates: TBD by Event Manager Locations : TBD by Event Manager

Planning the Event Most restaurants prefer to hold fundraisers on Tuesday nights because that is the slowest night for the hospitality industry in our area. When choosing a date, look at the PTA and school calendars to be sure there is no conflict Choose a restaurant that has the space to support our families and wants to support their local community. Some things to consider when choosing: Small, locally owned businesses since they are part of our community Try to find locations that are within our student population radius (20203 and 21046 zip codes) Ask what % they are willing to donate Look at trends from last year and see what made a good impact Example: LaPalapa had great results due to timing. It was in early January, after holidays. Perhaps people were tired of comfort food and wanted a change?

Making the Cold Call Once you have a date in mind and a venue selected, it’s time to reach out to the restaurant! This can be done via phone or email or combination of both. Ideas on what to say: Introduce yourself, explain you are with the nonprofit HES PTA Let them know you are trying to have a fundraiser that will not only support their local business, but also raise money for students located within their district Ask if they would be interested in participating in such an event Find out what % they would be willing to donate Propose a date to see if it works Let the restaurant know that you will be advertising their business in the following ways: Fliers go home to each student, facebook advertisements, on the PTA website, parent emails, and also in the morning announcements at the school.

Locking in the Deal Cont. Some restaurants, such as Chic Fil A or Nando’s Peri Peri, prefer to create their own fliers for our distribution. Others would like us to do it, which would be your job to do: If they want us to do it, ask for a copy of their logo emailed to them Add something to the bottom of the flier discussing the restaurant, stressing they are part of the community Send to the restaurant and PTA President for final approval before sending to printer (details below)

Locking in the Deal Cont. Some restaurants have an application process. Complete it, and you can sign it as a PTA designee, and send back The restaurant will need a copy of our tax- exempt paperwork for their accounting purposes)

Locking in the Deal Cont. Once the flier is ready to go, send to the following PTA members: Whomever is responsible for the facebook page and ask them to schedule a post twice: A few days before the event and again on the day of the event. Whomever is responsible for the newsletter to include Whomever is responsible for the email blasts to parents Whomever is responsible for the HES PTA website

Printing Fliers These fliers need to be distributed the THURSDAY before the event, in the Thursday take-home folders. Best option is to have them printed on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the event. Job instructions: This count changes every year. Confirm with PTA VP the counts at the beginning of the the school year. Send the following email to maplelawn@highstarrcopyservices.com They will deliver to the school. Most often it is same-day delivery.

Printing Fliers Cont. Dear High Starr, Attached is a flyer that we'd like printed for this month's restaurant fundraiser, with a billing rate of $0.06 per sheet. Below are the details: Contact name: (your name) Contact phone: (your cell) Delivery instructions: on or before (((DATE))) to Hammond Elementary School, 8110 Aladdin Dr. Job instructions: red paper, Twelve batches of 28 for grades 3-5 and 15 batches of 22 for grades k-2 Payment instructions: charge to the HES PTA account and email the receipt to me.

Follow-up after the event A few days after the event, follow up with the restaurant and ask how it went. Ask the restaurant how did they do, financially? Did they do a good volume of sales that night, compared to other Tuesdays? Find out how much money was raised – they will cut a check. Coordinate a pickup day/time to get the check Pick up the check from the restaurant. Send to front office of the school in an envelope with the PTA president (or Treasurer) name on it. The front office staff will get it to the right person Email the PTA President and Treasurer and let them know the $$ amount raised and when they can pick up the check from the school.

Follow-up after the event Cont. Note: There is no official award type of program for the participating restaurants. However, if you want to print off some sort of certificate of appreciation to give them, by all means please do so! Certificate paper, gold seal emblems, and hunter green award folders can be found on Amazon.

Projected Goal On average each fundraiser raises about $200

Reference Documentation HES Restaurant Nights Spreadsheet The spreadsheet below is a worksheet that is often used and it has the trends noted from the year prior as well as contact data: Examples of Flyers Three Brothers LaPalpa Corner Stable Tax-exempt paperwork