The Working Lunch

It’s finally over. In a surprise for most, Republicans have a huge night sweeping Donald Trump back into the White House. We’ll discuss what happened this week both at the federal level as well as in the states and take a look at what the industry can expect going forward.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Well, the election is finally here and it can’t come fast enough. While we don’t know the outcome yet, we do know that it will be razor-close and legally contested. To help us sort it out, we’re joined by our good friend Sean Kennedy, Executive Vice President of Public Policy for the National Restaurant Assocation, who will help us get it all sorted out.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

McDonald’s was all over the news this week for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a visit to a Pennsylvania restaurant by none other than The Donald himself. Besides his work at the fry station and his voluminous lunch order, what was the key takeaway politically from his visit, both for himself and for the industry? We’ll discuss.

And the Gallup organization released survey data regarding American attitudes toward taxes, tax fairness and tax reform. While results were all over the board depending on political ideologies, one thing the vast majority of Americans agreed on was that corporate taxes are too low. We’ll take a look at how that environment may shape the pending tax debate in 2025.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The very liberal governor of Massachusetts made a splash this week when she came out strongly against Question 5, the pending ballot proposal to eliminate the tip credit in the Bay State by 2029. The former server demonstrated her first hand knowledge of the issue and its ramifications for both workers and operators. This is a huge deal and could have implications for how the industry manages the issue across the country going forward. We’ll take a deep dive into this one.

And One Fair Wage puts on quite a show in Michigan, upping the ante with an event in downtown Detroit equating tipping with shackles and chains. Oh my. Lots to unpack there.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

We do a deep dive into next month’s general election and discuss not only the top of the ticket, but of importance to operators, what is happening at the state and local level that may impact their bottom lines.

And Jeff Hanscom, Vice President of State & Local Government Relations & Public Policy for the International Franchise Association, stops by the pod to talk about a big win in California and the collective efforts of both franchisors and franchisees working together on what could be a model going forward.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

This week, NRA Board member Tom Boucher, along with other panelists, testified before a Congressional Subcomittee egarding the labor community’s efforts to eliminate the tip credit as well as the onerous complications from the Administration’s 80/20/30 rule. Also on the panel was One Fair Wage head Saru Jayaraman. Let’s just say Tom had a better day. We’ll dive into that.

And former President Trump upped the populist ante this week calling for both the elimination of taxes on overtime wages as well as a 10% cap on credit card interest rates. Both are likely impossible to achieve but it sure makes his audiences respond. We’ll take a look.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

We’ll discuss how One Fair Wage, despite their abysmal record on getting legislation passed and ballot initiatives certified, continues to knock it out of the park when it comes to headlines and influence. Just this week, Vice-President Harris announced her economic plan which includes elimination of the tip credit. How is One Fair Wage doing it? We’ll discuss.

And we’ll have a quick recap of the presidential debate and see if there are any learnings in there for us there.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Just when we thought we were done dealing with the Joint Employer issue, it pulls us back in - this time it's the NLRB saying Amazon is a joint employer with a third-party delivery service. We are joined by Ed Egee, Vice President of Government Relations and Workforce Development for the National Retail Federation who will walk us through that situation and highlight what operators need to know. He will also discuss the ramifications of the seismic decision by a US Appeals Court squashing the Labor Department’s 80/20 rule.And the pressure is on in the DEI space as conservative activists continue collecting corporate scalps targeting companies for their policies. This week saw Lowe’s and the Ford Moror Company change direction on this increasingly volatile sace. We’ll take a look.We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The credit card interchange fee issue is raging right now as the news cycle is full of stories about all-time high ATM fees, all-time high debit card fees and accordingly, all-time high bank and credit card industry profits. Yet at the same time, the banks and credit card companies are crying poor mouth and pretending that any restrictions on their business practices will be the end of the republic as we know it. We’ll talk to our industry’s point man on the subject, Brennan Duckett, Director of Technology & Innovation Policy at the National Restaurant Association, to help us sort it all out and tell us what we can expect moving forward.

We’ll talk about that, a brief recap of the Democratic National Convention, and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

We’ll talk about the economic plans released this week by both presidential candidates and discuss the prominence of the tip taxation issue in both agendas. Is the tip issue just populist rhetoric or a legitimate policy proposal? We’ll dive into that.

And the Wall Street Journal published a major piece this week regarding the political program at McDonald’s and their large investment in local politics - particulary in California. Was the article good or bad for the industry? Or maybe a lot of both? We’ll discuss.

And Brian Niccol left Chipotle this week to take the reins at Starbucks. He’s no stranger to union organizing so what does this mean for the most high-profile union organizing campaign in industry history. We’ll take a look.

We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.