Alachua County Hospitality Council Mission Statement:
The Alachua County Hospitality Council is a non-profit organization comprised of local and regional hospitality professionals dedicated to promoting, protecting, preserving, and enhancing those characteristics that make our unique North Central Florida community interesting, memorable, and attractive; benefiting both economic health and quality of life in the community.

What is the Hospitality Council?
The Council was formed to exchange ideas and information within the Tourism Industry. We also sponsor National Tourism Week activities, including the award-winning Bed Making Contest, and the Florida Sports Club Festival. The Council also awards scholarships annually to University of Florida students majoring in Tourism Industry programs.

Who should join the Hospitality Council?
The council is open to individuals from all tourism related fields, including:

     • Travel
     • Hospitality
     • Hotels
     • Restaurants
     • Night Spots
     • Attractions

Why is the Pineapple a symbol for hospitality?
During the colonial days in America, a hostess' ability to have a pineapple for an important dining event said as much about her rank as it did about her resourcefulness. So sought after were the prickly fruits that colonial confectioners sometimes rented them to households by the day. Later, the same fruit was sold to other, more affluent clients who actually ate it. As you might imagine, hostesses would have gone to great lengths to conceal the fact that the pineapple that was the visual apogee of their table display and a central topic of their guests' conversation was only rented.

In larger, well-to-do homes, the dining room doors were kept closed to heighten visitors suspense about the table being readied on the other side. At the appointed moment, and with the maximum amount of pomp and drama, the doors were flung open to reveal the evening's main event. Visitors confronted with pineapple-topped food displays felt particularly honored by a hostess who obviously spared no expense to ensure her guests' dining pleasure.

In this manner, the fruit which was the visual keystone of the feast naturally came to symbolize the high spirits of the social events themselves; the image of the pineapple coming to express the sense of welcome, good cheer, human warmth and family affection inherent to such gracious home gatherings.