The 3-minute interview: Lynne Breaux

The 3-minute interview: Lynne Breaux
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
December 11, 2009

Lynne Breaux has been president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington since October 2001

Breaux has been president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington since October 2001 and spent many holidays working in restaurants.

Why's the holiday season so big for restaurants?
It's a celebratory time and restaurants are the place where people like to celebrate.

Do you think more people are going out for holiday meals?
I do, and I do think that may be unique to the D.C. region because so many people work so hard. They don't want to cook. Or they pick up bits and pieces for their meals. More restaurants are doing takeout orders in advance. Buy your turkey, buy your dressing, or whatever. People are certainly trying to maximize their kitchen time by getting things to go.

How is the restaurant business doing locally?
Compared to the rest of the country, we're doing good. The Obama bounce is still in effect. The fact that he and his wife and family and friends go out to our restaurants has been fabulous. That's been really good for D.C. and for the focus on the city because so much is happening here now.

What trends are you seeing?
People want to come to D.C. because we are hot and cool as we've been saying for years, and it's mostly due to the restaurant scene, the club scene, the nighttime scene. We've got some incredible homegrown, incredibly successful and effective and delicious cooking chefs in D.C. We've been a lot of times ahead of the curve.

As president of the restaurant association do you have be careful where you go out to eat?
That's a good question. I try to be extremely democratic. We have over 700 members and I try and spread the wealth, or enjoy the wealth I should say.

But you must have your favorites.
No, I love them all.

Anything new in the lobbying front.
There always something going on. D.C. always keeps us busy.

- Alan Suderman