Benefits to Membership of the CEA

As the association serving the national Catering, Hospitality and Foodservices Industries there are a number of benefits to membership of the CEA. Two of the biggests benefits which our members achieve through their membership of the CEA are the advantages of association and financial benefits.

1. Advantages of Association

As a group representative of the key players in the Catering, Hospitality and Foodservice Industries in Ireland the CEA members are in a strong position to influence the environment external to the trade in addition to interacting internally within the trade. For CEA members so of the existing activities which influence the environment external to the trade include:

• Promote the trade e.g. The CATEX Exhibition.
• Protect the Trade e.g. Work carried out by EFCEM through Orgalime to lobby proposed catering related European Legislation at the European level.
• Interact and develop contacts with other Associations within the Industry, such as the CMA, The Restaurant Association, The Panel of Chefs, and The Hospitality Institute especially to promote the CEA products and services to those other associations.
• Promote the Association and its members as a Group through Publications and other Public Relations including the website.
• To interact with similar national groups.
• The existing activities which create interaction within the Association include:
  • Annual Golf outing.
  • Annual industry dinner.
  • Gala Night Dinner at CATEX.
• Website - this should provide a focus point for information, knowledge, news and contacts.

2. Financial Gain

The main existing monetary gain from CEA membership is the reduction in the cost of exhibiting at CATEX. In addition to this, priority is also given to members in terms of the location of the Members stand at the exhibition as the exhibition is first launched to members before being opened up to the industry. In a number of cases, for larger companies in particular, the saving on the exhibition stand may exceed the cost of the membership fee offering a financial gain to membership of the CEA.