For more than 80 years, the National Restaurant Association has represented, educated and promoted the restaurant industry. Here's a taste of the Association's history.

1917: When egg brokers try to demand a price of 65 cents a dozen, the year-old Kansas City Restaurant Association, one of the restaurant industry's earliest professional associations, organizes an egg boycott. Egg prices plummet to 32 cents. The seeds of a national movement are sown.

1919: Kansas City restaurateurs launch a national organization, holding the first meeting of what is today's National Restaurant Association on March 13 in Kansas City. The fledgling organization represents an industry of 43,000 restaurants.

1920: Prohibition begins in 1920, kicking off a 13-year ban on alcohol sales. Restaurants that are used to serving free sandwiches with five-cent beers need to develop new marketing tactics — and they do. Despite Prohibition, the industry thrives, riding a wave of national prosperity. Howard Johnson's opens its first franchises, White Castle's five-cent burgers grow popular, and Willard Marriott opens his first Hot Shoppes.

1927: The growing National Restaurant Association moves its headquarters from Kansas City to Chicago.

1930s: Prohibition ends, but the Depression is in full swing. Congress's National Recovery Act requires each industry to prepare a "Code of Fair Competition" in 1933. The National Restaurant Association quickly complies. Membership doubles.

1930s: In an appeal to customers in bleak times, the National Restaurant Association tries out two advertising slogan: "Enjoy Life— Eat Out More Often" and "Take Her Out to Dinner at Least Once a Week."

1940s: World War II gas rations and travel restrictions result in the cancellation of national restaurant conventions from 1942 to 1945. In their place, the National Restaurant Association institutes a program of wartime conferences dealing with such concerns as food, equipment and labor shortages.

1940s: Post-WWII restaurant sales hit a new high. The number of meals served triples from a prewar level of 20 million meals a day to a postwar level of more than 60 million meals a day. The National Restaurant Association launches an Educational Department to help busy restaurateurs do their jobs better. The Association also produces its first film: "America's Heritage of Hospitality," to promote the industry and recruit new employees.

1950s: The National Restaurant Association endorses the use of credit cards, and supports a new type of dinner — the "take home" meal — that families could enjoy at home in front of their new black and white television sets. McDonald's launches its "Speedee System," and fast food is born. To whet customers' appetites for eating out, the National Restaurant Association commissions two songs: "Pass the Meat, Pass the Potatoes" (1951) and "Let's Go Out to a Restaurant" (1953).

1960s: The Association celebrates its 50th anniversary in 1969 at the National Restaurant Association Convention and Exposition. The theme: "Golden Opportunities." The industry evolves. In an age of national experimentation, more restaurateurs forgo traditional French cooking techniques. New ethnic flavors and locally-grown produce make their way on to menus.

1970s: The energy crisis, inflation, beef shortages and more government mean growing pains for the restaurant industry. In 1979 the National Restaurant Association relocates its headquarters from Chicago to Washington, DC, to better communicate the industry's messages to lawmakers.

1981: National Restaurant Association launches Restaurants USA magazine and the Washington Weekly newsletter to keep members abreast of industry news.

1987: In response to the industry's growing professionalism, the Association creates what is now known as the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to produce educational programs and materials on everything from food safety to responsible beverage-alcohol service.

1980s: The National Restaurant Association becomes more politically active. Tip-reporting rules, tip taxes, business meal deductibility, employment law, minimum wage and other public-policy issues take center stage for the restaurant industry.

1999: Fortune magazine names the National Restaurant Association the 10th most powerful lobbying organization in the country, up from #15 in 1998 and #24 in 1997.

1999: The U.S. Department of Commerce declares 1999 the "Year of the Restaurant" in recognition of the industry's significant contribution to the U.S. economy.

1999: The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation certifies its one millionth restaurant-industry professional in its ServSafe food-safety training program.

2000: The National Restaurant Association's 81st Annual Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in May is the largest NRA Show ever. Show attendees walk through miles of aisles of products and services — including the wares of 250+ technology exhibitors — covering 1.3 million square feet of exhibit floors.

So here we are today ...

With 13.1 million employees, the restaurant industry is now the nation's largest private-sector employer.

In 2000, Americans are spending more than 45% of their food dollar at eating-and-drinking places, up from 25% in 1955. By 2010, Americans are expected to spend more than half of their food dollar at an anticipated one million eating-and-drinking places.

As the industry flourishes, the National Restaurant Association continues to help restaurateurs meet new challenges. Right now, that's labor shortages and increased competition. Stay tuned...