Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/602622
4 FEDA News & Views Brad Pierce President Restaurant Equipment World brad.pierce@rewonline.com The President's Message I would like to share some important news with you concerning the inte- rior design battle that's been raging for years in our industry. In a nutshell, a cease fire has occurred with the sign- ing of a memorandum of understand- ing between FEDA and the International Interior Design Association (IIDA). How Did We Get Here? Over the past years, FEDA has sought an exit strategy from playing the game of whack-a-mole, fighting legislation in each individual state. Simultaneously, the IIDA's legislative efforts were being affected by FEDA's opposition. Both organizations were spending time and resources to fight one another at every juncture. Yet, despite how often we crossed paths, we'd never formally sat down and had a conversation to better understand each other's position on this issue. So, we did just that. FEDA's incom- ing President, Joe Schmitt, our Executive Director, Ray Herrick, and I met with the IIDA at their offices in Chicago this March. What occurred was a very posi- tive discussion that resulted in the cre- ation of a memorandum of understand- ing. What Does the Memorandum of Understanding Contain? A full copy of this memorandum is available to all members on the homep- age of feda.com (in the "News" Section). A highlight of this memorandum reads as follows: "The IIDA has no intentions of promoting legislation nationally nor in any U.S. state inhibiting professional foodservice equipment designers, such as are employed by FEDA member firms, from doing design work in commercial restaurant and institutional foodservice facilities, and will work with FEDA to work against such legislation. FEDA agrees that they have no intention of working against legislation that is intro- duced by IIDA or an Interior Design Legislative Coalition in any U.S. state that does not impact or prevent any foodser- vice equipment designer or foodservice equipment dealer from practicing to their fullest extent." Was the Money We Spent Fighting This Issue Wasted? In the interest of transparency, I feel it's important to address this elephant in the room directly. The simply answer is a resounding "no. The dollars and efforts spent by our members and allied indus- try associations, buying groups and indi- viduals made a difference. The voice of our industry was loud and our lobbyist, Patti Morrow of the IDPC, did a phenom- enal job of ensuring our message was heard by influential people in legislative sessions. I genuinely believe that we were able to come to this resolution due to the success we achieved in fighting this legislation up to this point. What's Next? The IIDA and FEDA are committed to maintaining a positive, cooperative and proactive dialog that has been established between the two organiza- tions. We mutually have agreed to work together when future legislation is pro- posed to ensure it's aligned with the interests of both organizations. The Latest on the Interior Design Issue continued on page 40 Despite how often we crossed paths, we'd never formally sat down and had a conversation to better understand each other's position on this issue.