History

The seeds for the Hotel & Restaurant Foundation (HARF) were sown at the first post-war meeting of the California Northern Hotel Association, held in 1946 at the Sonoma Mission Inn.  Representatives of the Hotel & Restaurant Alumni Association, as well as administrators and faculty, from City College of San Francisco were invited to attend.  At that meeting, San Francisco hotelier Harvey Toy pledged $25,000 to City College’s hospitality program.  Shortly thereafter, George Smith, owner of Hotel Mark Hopkins, matched that pledge.  With donations growing, in 1948 CCSF faculty and alumni, joined by industry leaders, created the “City College of San Francisco Hotel & Restaurant Foundation.” 

In its early years, HARF headed fundraising efforts for the construction of all of the purpose-built facilities for CCSF’s Hotel & Restaurant Department (now Culinary Arts & Hospitality Studies), including Smith Hall (1955), Statler Wing (1963), Statler Wing extension (1973) and the Alice Statler Library.  HARF partnered with the Statler Foundation of New York in spearheading each of those efforts.

In addition to its fundraising, early on HARF paid faculty for fellowships, purchased equipment for City College, funded out-of-town student field trips, awarded scholarships, and more.  Today, HARF serves two purposes: granting scholarships; providing financial support to the Alice Statler Library.

HARF now boasts endowments of nearly three million dollars.  Its major endowed benefactors ($50,000+) include John, Hilda and Mary Louise Gifford, Handlery Hotels, Manny Goodman Memorial, Swig Foundation, George Smith, Hart Smith, Harvey Toy, Hotel Council of San Francisco, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals, Henry Meyer, and San Francisco Travel.

Recognizing the burgeoning of both associate-degree and baccalaureate programs specific to our industry, in the late 1970’s HARF amended its bylaws to offer scholarships to degree-candidate students enrolled in all hospitality, travel & tourism and culinary arts programs at Western Association of Schools and Colleges(WASC) accredited colleges and universities throughout California.  Most recently, more than fifty students from eight institutions received scholarships; they represented CCSF, San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco, Cypress College, California State University - East Bay, California State Polytechnic University – Pomona, California State University – Chico, and San Diego State University.