LI pair launching new restaurant association

RESTAURANTS

Restaurants are among the businesses hardest hit by the recession, so two young Long Island entrepreneurs say this is a good time to round them all up into a new association, offering them discounts of all types and even advice about how to make money.

The thing is, many Long Island restaurants are already members of the Long Island chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association.

Donna Trapani, 31, and Chris Ferrara, 32, say they can do more for the restaurants than the state organization is doing. Trapani said the state organization's focus is lobbying.

Trapani and Ferrara have known one another since they were 4 and 5 years old, living around the block from each other in Islip. Trapani opened a bar, the Full Martini, in Islip, when she was 23. She began working in the food business at age 13, folding boxes in a pizza store. Ferrara's background is in sales and marketing. He worked in that field at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

"We're going to be offering them 70 different types of services," Trapani said, including linen cleaning, accounting and payroll services. Additionally, Trapani said, the Long Island Dining Association would publish a monthly newsletter and host financial classes. A launch party is planned for the spring.

Mario Saccente, executive vice president of the 500-member Long Island chapter of the state organization, said he welcomes the help but has pretty much got matters covered.

"It's a tough industry," he said. "Anything to help a restaurant is a help.

"We've been around since 1935. There are a lot of things we do that they [Trapani and Ferrara] are not aware of. But I'm glad they mentioned the lobbying. If no one's there to speak for you, what's going to happen to you?"