The Director of Operations for RUI just telephoned me, Mr. Attila Szabo after I sent off an email asking for a written letter from Mr. Szabo promising that wild steelhead would no longer be served in RUI restaurants.

You maybe happy to know that he owns an Alumaweld driftboat, is an avid steelheader and has fished the Hoh and has in fact, seen the nets.

And Mr. Szabo did inform me that as of tomorrow, wild steelhead will be replaced with wild halibut because the first catches of the season have become available.

Mr. Szabo made no promises that wild steelhead would not be on the menu next year and I was led to believe, that Cutter's would be serving wild steelhead come next year. He told me that for every letter he recieved against the sale of wild steelhead at Cutter's, he recieved a letter in support of it. He also told me that he is worried about the backlash that he will face if he offers farmed salmon because of the bad press that farmed salmon have been recieving as of late.

When I asked him to please not utitilize Hoh River stock as the river has not been making escapement, he told me that he can not trust nor believe those numbers.

He kept making reference to the emotion and such that was involved and the understands that and kept telling me that we was NOT dodging the question and the problem.

Plus he told me to take up the issue with the F&W Commision and the State Government.

I was having issues with my cell phone reception at the time so I was not able to engage him as much as I would of liked.

On the bright side, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy....

However, I am not supporting any RUI establishment and I will not support any RUI establishment until I get a promise that wild steelhead will no longer be served.

This is just the begining....

Good work Sparky. Let's watch and keep this on the front burner. If they do not agree to a complete halt, I beleive we should picket and get some press on this. I will report on this in my STS column, but want to wait until we get a full resolution.

He may be a nice guy, but no way can I beleive he got as many e mails in support. That has to be comete B.S. And, if he is worried about a backlash from farm raised salmon he can alwasy get troll caught wild fish. Just call the Makahs!

Looks like even more pressure is needed. Tell everybody you know to send emails and place phone calls if they don't get a response. I like the idea of picketing outside their establishments.

Here is the response that I recieved fro RU

Dear John:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We value your patronage of our
restaurants, and we can certainly appreciate your viewpoint on this
issue. I have forwarded your concerns to our Director of Operations for
Washington, as well as our Vice President of Purchasing, for their
consideration.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Sincerely,

Keri Griffith
Home Office Hospitality/Guest Relations Manager
Restaurants Unlimited, Inc.
1818 N. Northlake Way
Seattle, WA 98103
206.634.3082
http://www.r-u-i.com


Dear Keri:

I feel this response to be nothing short of a slap in the face. I asked for you to reply with how you intend to change your policy regarding the issue of serving wild steelhead, not we will look into it. I would like to make your aware of the fact that this is a very hot issue on several web sites pertaining to the recreational fishermen. These sites are receiving over a million hits per month combined and a boycott of all the establishments owned by RU is being discussed. I hope you would take will this matter as serious as we are and reply with how intend to address this issue as soon as possible so I can share it with the other concerned recreational fishermen.

Once again thank you for your time
J.R.

Maybe some how they mistook my letter as being in support of the wild steelhead, they are correct. I support the wild steelhead by NOT harvesting them.

Go over his head as well.

Steve Stoddard
Chief Executive Officer
sstoddard@r-u-i.com
James M. Welch
Chairman
jwelch@r-u-i.com


How about sending in 400 to 500 fishermen and thier families to order only coffee and sodas at peak hours on a friday or Sat night. Tie up a few tables and make a financial statement. Of course leaving a decent tip for the wait staff.

WOW I got a response in 4 minute from when I sent my response to them. Now thats service!

Dear John: "I love dear John Letters"

I received a response this morning from our Director of Operations for Washington, Mr. Attila Szabo, and he has informed me that tomorrow, 3/3/05, Wild Halibut will replace Wild Steelhead on our menus.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Keri Griffith
Home Office Hospitality/Guest Relations Manager
Restaurants Unlimited, Inc.
206.634.0550 x1400 or "0"
kgriffith@r-u-i.com
http://www.r-u-i.com

I replied

I understand this is the case, but it's make NO mention of discontinuing the practice of serving wild steelhead in the future. I fact we are being lead to believe that it will continue and this is not acceptable to us. The fact is we have a major media publication waiting for your response prior to going to print, in all fairness we would like hear what your future policy on this matter will be before this goes public.

I hope to hear from you soon.

J.R.
----- Original Message -----
From: Keri Griffith
To: 'John Rogers'
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 3:27 PM
Subject: RE: Wild Steelhead

Keep up the heat, JR.

I spend a couple grand at Stanley's every year, and many building contractors my wife works with give out Stanley's gift certificates to their customers. ( I go for the prime rib, not the fish )

If RU can't make the statement that wild steelhead won't be served any more, then Stanley's is off my list and I'll advise said contractors that they should NOT give out Stanley's gift certificates any longer.

Mr. Szabo can then pencil out the figures and see if his letter writers in support of serving wild steelhead will vote with their wallets like I will. Somehow, I doubt they will.

Keep us posted, guys.

The latest Dear John letter.

Dear John:

I have just shared your recent email and your phone number (000-000-0000) with Attila Szabo. He told me he would be happy to discuss this over the phone with you. He is currently in a meeting, but he has your number and I know he will call you.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Keri Griffith at Restaurants Unlimited

I have to give them credit they are attempting to address this this issue. I can give them that.

I got a call back and was told Dave Johnson is the seafood buyer and will return my call tommorrow, I dont see a problem for them to change the menu for the rest of the season, like it was said earlier its a emotional issue for some people but not all, most people that eat in these places. They can put up the wild halibut and wont lost non-fishing customers and get us off thier backs and next season slide it in again unless some actual deal is brokered out. It was a pleasent return call, and got to spend a bit of time talking it out Steve probably just had my butt kissed

I've been emailing them everyday too. Every time I get a real responce, not like a WDFW responce. At least they are addressing the situation. I am glad to hear the director is an avid steelheader, but with that being said he should know how important that resource is.

Harbor-Hog

keep the emails coming!

Sprakey- Thank you for all you (and everyone else) have done! The hoh has given me so many memories and seeing those pictures just made me sick! So please keep up the good fight!

My thanks to everyone as well. The Hoh is where I went to learn steelheading about 28 years ago. The topic is important and the Hoh is a special place to me too.

URI has locations outside Washington. The email replies I've received do not seem like they actually take this seriously. Their profit is important so I've sent emails to fishers in the other states attempting to check out their menu. If they loose money or reputation, the fish buying practices have a better chance of changing.

The Hoh is my favorite river. We caught our first true hogs of all kinds on this river years ago. To me there is not another river like it. Here is my response.

Mr. Steve Stoddard
Chief Executive Officer
James M. Welch
Chairman
Restaurants Unlimited

Dear sirs,
We have had many business dinners at your restaurants in the past. Your establishments have been top notch and we have enjoyed them to the greatest extent. However, we have found that you have been serving Hoh River Wild Steelhead. I was reading an online billboard and read your company's letters posted. We request you immediately stop and refuse the use of Wild Hoh River Steelhead now and future. This is one of the most pristine rivers on the Washington Coastline. These fish are not and have not been making escapement goals necessary to sustain the runs to exist. The tribal netting practices of netting the entire river is disastrous. It is even worse when they chase them into the nets with their boats, which I have witnessed. I have fished this river many years in the past and do not care to keep a wild Steelhead from it. In fact we have not Steelhead fished it since it cannot make escapement. Since learning of your support to net this river for Steelhead, we are now as a group, not going to support your organization and are banning it from places to support. We have never done this before. We are not an environmental group but sportsfishers that care that these fish will be there for future runs and generations. Since the federal government and tribes do not protect them, it is our duty to make sure these runs exist. I am reminded of the example of the depleting Marlin runs on the East Coast. The only people to willing to save them were the restaurant chefs refusing to cook them. All others commercial fishers wanted to fish them to extinction. I am taking this letter to the Puget Sound Anglers State Board meeting tomorrow where 14 chapters from around the state will be represented. They can take it back to their chapters for dispersal. Afterwards, will be the Recreational Fishing Alliance Washington Chapter and RFA National General meeting. The Puget Sound Anglers Chapters represent about 5000 families in the Western Washington Area. The Recreational Fishing Alliance Washington Chapter covers all of Washington State. RFA National covers the entire United States. All will be present and informed of your choice to support the extinction of the true wild Hoh River Steelhead. I cannot in good faith patronize any of your establishments with this kind of disregard for these depleting fish until I get a response from you that you have terminated using these Steelhead. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely yours,

Ron Garner
Puget Sound Anglers
Sno-King Chapter President
WDFW Shrimp Advisor
PSA State Board Member
RFA Washington Member
Garner Commercial Interior
Construction-President

so they got as many favorable responses as unfavorable and were supposed to buy that too. These clowns really take us for a bunch of dumber then dirts. Even though it creates diffuculty at times to boycot establishments (Ive got about 6 or so places, from grocery stores, movies houses and resturants that I've walked away from to never return and it's been years and years), I truley believe it works.