The Delta Variant is threatening to significantly disrupt the economy again just as the industry was showing signs of a meaningful recovery. And with it will bring new public affairs and employee relations challenges for operators including masks, immunizations and potentially the return of dining restrictions to name a few. We’ll take a look at what might be in store for restaurant owners both operationally and reputationally as the virus makes a comeback. And data continues to emerge on the impacts of supplemental unemployment benefits on the labor market. We’ll take a look at the latest information and discuss what could lay ahead for operators. And a new study by researchers at Notre Dame and Penn State examines the potential linkage between the practice of tipping and the increased risks of sexual harassment. We’ll discuss how these findings could lead to more extensive research and potentially place tipping itself under more scrutiny. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

This week, Washington, DC was a hotbed of legislative activity critically important to restaurant operators. Hearings on the nominations of industry adversaries, pieces of the PRO Act potentially being passed through reconciliation, the infrastructure bill and the fate of paid leave and child care are just a few of the issues in play during a busy week in the nation’s capital. We will dive into all that and try to sort it all out. And California has just passed the nation’s first statewide Universal Basic Income Program. Whether it’s UBI, the CARES Act, unemployment benefits or forgivable loans to employers, we’ll discuss the growing bi-partisan consensus around direct government payments to both individuals and small businesses. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Maine is about to enact the most far-reaching product stewardship law in the country dramatically redefining how traditional recycling plans have been structured. Following models in Europe and Canada, everyone along the supply chain - including restaurants and retailers - will have significant new responsibilities in handling waste and other packaging as well as bearing the cost of recycling. We talk to Curtis Picard, CEO & President of the Retail Association of Maine and Scot Case, the Vice-President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the National Retail Federation to better understand what is happening in this space and what operators can expect going forward. And Gallup is out with their newest edition of annual polling on how optimistic or pessimistic Americans are regarding quality of life and the future. We’ll discuss what impacts those attitudes may have on not only politics and voting but also on spending decisions in the marketplace. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The SBA has rejected yet another pool of Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant applicants because of pending litigation against the agency over their racial and gender preferences in distributing initial grants. As a result, thousands of restaurant owners still find themselves in limbo. We sit down with Sean Kennedy, EVP of Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association to get the latest on the state of play of the situation and what the road ahead looks like. And the larger legacy players in the industry seemed to have stabilized financially in the wake of the pandemic. We sit down with Michael Halen, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Senior Restaurant Analyst and take a look at the financial landscape, the impact of both stimulus checks on sales and unemployment checks on labor, and what the overall economic health of the industry is right now. And we saw a slew of local elections across the country this week, most notably in New York City and in Buffalo where the country will now have its first socialist mayor in nearly 60 years. We’ll discuss what happened and as always what it means moving ahead. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The Small Business Administration has been sued - ostensibly by restaurant owners in Texas and Tennessee over loan preferences for traditionally disadvantaged business owners, namely minorities and women with regard to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Behind the scenes however, the lawsuit is one among many begging choreographed by Trump Administration alumni to call out preferential treatment for minorities across various agencies of government. We’ll discuss the implications of all this for the industry both operationally and reputationally. And the industry is getting caught up in the Tech-lash wars as traditionally business-friendly Republicans take aim at big tech and employers are finding themselves as collateral damage in an ideological political battle. Brennan Duckett, Technology & Innovation Policy Director for the National Restaurant Association stops by the pod to help us to sort it all out and help operators understand how they are impacted. And Maine is on the doorstep of a first in the nation environmental law that fundamentally shifts the financial responsibility of recycling programs from taxpayers to manufacturers and distributors of the products themselves - such as restaurants. We’ll discuss the ramifications of this effort and what it could mean for operators. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Congress and state legislators are beginning to get serious about the labor shortage facing employers. Discussions around tax incentives, government-funded hiring bonuses and other remedies are at the forefront of the conversation. We’ll discuss the state of play of this important issue and what operators should expect. And Walmart is the latest company to get a visit from activist shareholders demanding change. This week leading labor activist Rev. William Barber showed up in Bentonville demanding higher wages and worker protections. We’ll take a look at how that played out. And CEO Pay is increasingly being tied to Diversity Goals. This week a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, ran stories detailing the increasing pressure executives are under from, surprisingly, institutional investors. We’ll dive right into that. And to top it off, our old friend Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Affairs and Grassroots Programs at the National Restaurant Association, stops by the pod and discusses The NRA’s BluePrint for Rebuilding - a resource to help state and local policy makers as the look for ways to reinvigorate the industry in their states and towns. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

One Fair Wage Hits the streets for another round of worker protests, strikes and walkouts targeting high end restaurants in major metros. Their new message - “it’s not a labor shortage, it's a pay shortage” seems to be taking hold in some quarters and the press this week seems to be gobbling it up. We’ll take a look at this new dynamic in the wage conversation. And Emily Williams Knight joins us to talk about her new role at the National Restaurant Association as Chief Collaboration Officer and Executive Vice President of Industry Relations. We’ll discuss the challenges that lay ahead as she tries to streamline advocacy and other efforts between the state restaurant associations and the NRA as well as a host of other topics. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

Fight for $15 took to the streets this week targeting McDonald’s workers in 15 cities across the country organizing strikes and walkouts. This was staged on the same day as the McDonald's shareholder meeting to sync with shareholders and other activists calling for change. We’ll discuss, in light of the pending legislation in Congress, whether this moves the needle on the issue and whether they can take advantage of a new political climate in Washington. And speaking of labor, what’s going on with workers centers and the other alt labor groups we used to hear about? Well apparently a lot. We’ll discuss how these groups have stayed below the radar but yet still stayed relevant. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The political food fight around systemic racism and its potential causes and remedies is putting employers in an increasingly difficult spot. A major national employer was involved in a significant backlash this week and we’ll discuss what implications their experience can have for other employers. And the national conversation around the labor shortage got supercharged this week as the US Chamber of Commerce called for the discontinuance of supplemental unemployment benefits and several red states moved to cut off enhanced federal jobless benefits that were supposed to last until September. We’ll discuss those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The labor shortage continues to challenge the industry and operators are struggling to keep doors open. Data continues to emerge putting more and more context around the complexity of the issue and what challenges are short-term and which are likely chronic. We’ll take a look at some polling data from a leading university-based restaurant and hospitality management program that examines worker attitudes which could provide meaningful clues to the industry. And the Congressional dialogue around a federal minimum wage hike is slowly becoming clearer and it looks like there is emerging agreement on some broad concepts, namely wage levels and the treatment of tips. We’ll take a look at that as well as the subsequent political calculations facing many industry leaders. We’ll also discuss a new report out this week claiming wide scale abuse by employers regarding compliance with wage and hour law and how new leadership at the Wage & Hour division may take advantage of those allegations.