Cinco de Mayo on a Tuesday is a once-a-year revenue gift for restaurants, taco trucks, bars, and grocery delis, and Alex breaks down two pre-service moves that decide whether you capture the volume. Plus: the SBA's free National Small Business Week virtual summit goes live today with a capital access panel and a tax planning workshop, and Mexican avocado wholesale pricing is running 18% above last year right when guacamole demand peaks. Three stories, five minutes, done.

National Small Business Week is officially underway, and Alex breaks down which SBA virtual summit sessions are worth blocking on your calendar this week. Plus: the CAPE tariff refund portal is live, the eighty-day liquidation clock is already running on your old entries, and SBA 7(a) loan rates are sitting at their best level in three years after the Fed held in April. If you've been delaying an expansion ask or a refund claim, this is the episode to act on.

Small business AI adoption between 68-98%; a 10-tool stack runs ~$317/mo and saves 20+ hours and $500-2000/mo. The Fed proposed cutting the debit interchange cap from 21¢+5bps to 14¢+4bps, ~$3B/yr in merchant savings if finalized. National Small Business Week starts Sunday with the SBA Virtual Summit May 5-6.

ADP and Gusto show small businesses driving net job growth in March while medium and large businesses shed positions. Wage plans hit lowest level since July 2025. BizScout raised $5M to scale a marketplace for buying laundromats, HVAC shops, and other "boring" businesses.

The FOMC announces at 2 PM ET — what to listen for in the statement language. The SBA expanded its US-citizens-only restriction to backed loans in April, affecting any business with a non-citizen 20%+ owner. NIH SBIR/STTR reauthorized for five years, restoring $1.3B in non-dilutive funding.

The FOMC kicks off a two-day meeting today with a hold expected at 3.5-3.75%. The NFIB optimism index dropped to 95.8 in March, below the 52-year average for the first time in a year. SMBs are extending inventory horizons to four months as tariffs become structural.

The CAPE refund portal opens but small businesses face structural disadvantage. Visa quietly hiked Level 2 small business credit fees and sunset the legacy program April 18. FSMA 204 enforcement is now landing on independents who thought paper records would suffice.