I have to be honest with you -- I did not know what this conversation was going to turn into when I first booked Mike Somers.

I knew Mike as the guy at the NHLRA. The advocacy person. The one who shows up in Concord and fights the bills that would hurt our industry. And I knew that was important work. The Red Arrow has been a member for years.

But I didn't know his whole story. And when he walked into the studio and started talking -- I mean really talking -- about starting as a busboy in Central Florida, about closing restaurants at 2 in the morning as a GM, about walking into the NHLRA CEO job in November 2008 and landing right in the middle of the Great Recession -- I was SO glad we were recording this.

Mike didn't come up through a business school or a policy background. He started in hospitality the same way most of us did -- at the bottom.

"I've worked every job in a restaurant except actually owning one," he told me. "And frankly, after having done it from all kinds of aspects, it's the one job I have the most respect for."

After years in restaurant operations -- including as General Manager at CR Sparks in Bedford, which many of you will remember as a real icon in this area -- he moved into beverage distribution, then got recruited to lead the NHLRA. He's been there for 17-plus years now. And those restaurant years? They follow him everywhere.

"When you sit across from a restaurant owner who's telling you their margins are gone and they don't know how to make it work, you have to have empathy for that work," he said. "Because this person was up closing at 2 in the morning and might have to be back at 8:30 because the HVAC guy's coming."

Been there. O M G, have I been there.

Here is the thing about the NHLRA that I think most people -- even most restaurant owners -- don't fully understand. So much of what they do is invisible.

Mike told me about a battle that happened back around 2012-2014, when the Department of Revenue wanted to start counting employees' tips as income of the business -- taxable under the business profits and enterprise tax. Most restaurant owners have no idea this was even attempted.

"We put a full-court press on that," Mike said. "We fought tooth and nail and we were ultimately successful in getting the legislature to put it into the budget bill that year and essentially derail that entire project. And most businesses don't know it, but it's saved them millions of dollars."

Millions. Of dollars. That just quietly stayed in restaurant owners' pockets because one organization showed up and fought for them.

I asked Mike what he wishes the general public understood about running a restaurant that they just don't. His answer was fast.

"There's no money in it."

He said restaurants are running on margins of 3 to 5%. That when you see a packed dining room on a Saturday night, Monday through Thursday was probably half-empty -- and the overhead doesn't change either way.

"Whilst you may see that the place is on a wait on a Saturday night, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, the place wasn't even half full. But the overhead, the fixed cost -- those don't change."

I've been saying this for years and I will say it again: people do not understand how hard this is. I have four locations, open 24 hours a day, and I feel it every single week.

One part of this conversation really got to me. Mike started talking about ProStart -- a two-year culinary and hospitality management curriculum in NH high schools -- and the state competition they just held.

"These kids, they have a team of five people and they have to produce a three-course menu," he told me. "They can work with nothing but two butane burners and some ice and they have to figure it out. And boy, these kids are amazing."

The Pinkerton Academy team won the NH state competition this year -- and on the day we were recording, they were literally on a plane to Baltimore for the national competition. Funded 100% by the NHLRA Education Foundation.

I love that SO much. Those are the people who are going to be running this industry in twenty years.

When I do Beyond the Plate, I am always looking for the story behind the story. And with Mike, it is this:

Every restaurant in New Hampshire has someone fighting for it in Concord. Most operators are too busy keeping the lights on to see that battle happening. But it is happening -- every legislative session, every budget cycle, every time someone in government has a bad idea about how to regulate this industry.

Mike Somers is a phone call away from every single one of them. He told me his cell number is in his email signature and he answers it 24/7.

"If you're just a small restaurant starting out and you're not yet a member, call us," he said. "We help with everything from liquor licensing issues to Department of Labor issues. As a restaurant owner, you are going to have a problem. When you have one -- call us."

That's what this episode is about. Go listen. And if you're in hospitality in New Hampshire and you're not yet connected to the NHLRA -- fix that.

nhlra.com | Concord, NH

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ABOUT CAROL ERICKSON

Carol Erickson has owned Red Arrow Diner since 1987 -- four locations across New Hampshire, open 24/7. She started Beyond the Plate to tell the real stories behind the people who make New England's food and hospitality scene what it is. Not just what's on the menu. What's behind it.

Red Arrow Diner: redarrowdiner.com  | @redarrow24diner