The Working Lunch

With the backdrop of the New York City mayor’s race, a great deal of attention has been paid to the rise of the socialist movement, especially with young Gen Z voters. While this group continues to take an increasingly dim view of capitalism, similar sentiments are growing on the far right as well. With both sides more open to government intervention, how strong is our continued committment to free markets?

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

The CEO of Steak & Shake personally goes after the CEO of Cracker Barrel by taking out a billboard in downtown Nashville calling for her firing. Sour grapes over a takeover bid gone awry or another effort seeking a pat on the head from the White House? Or maybe both. We’ll discuss.

And the ramifications of the Charlie Kirk situation have made their way into the restaurant world with numerous brands being pulled into the mix by employees and/or customers voicing their opinions on social media. How do brands stay out of the morass? We’ll take a look.

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

The industry was active on Capitol Hill the week as industry leaders at IFA & NRA helped usher in new legislation to bring some much-needed certainty to the laws around joint employers. We are joined by our good friend Michael Layman, Chief Advocacy Officer at the International Franchise Association, to bring us up to speed on the new bill and what operators should expect going forward.

And the Governor of Texas put out an Executive Order this week laying out new regulations around the sales of hemp-based beverages. Is the industry going to get into the cvonversation on these products or let retailers and manufacturers box usa in - Again.

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

McDonalds has taken their Happy Meal marbles and gone home. We do a deep dive on why McDonald’s parted ways with our industry’s premier association and assess their grievances,opine on their announcement rollout, and speculate on what it means for both them and the industry going forward.

And who’s up for some flying burritos? Chipotle struck a deal with a leading drone company to enhance its delivery options. Is this the future, Benjamin? We’ll take a look.

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

We take a look at the evolving issue of Extended Producer Responsibility and the likelihood that restaurants will be playing an increasingly active role in the recycling system. Seven states have passed some type of EPR law and the first few are starting to take effect. We are joined by Michael Washburn and Chloe Kapanen from the Washburn Consulting Group who are helping to guide the industry on how we manage through the multitude of complaince challenges these laws are presenting, what new laws are potentially coming down the pike, and how companies should be preparing.

And after a short summer break, we’re back with a rather lengthy legislative scorecard.

While the Golden State always seems to be in some level of crazy, it appears that major metros in southern California have gone off the deep end. Los Angeles is considering a $30/hr minimum wage for hospitality workers in the city, $29.50 down the road in Long Beach, and $25/hr on the docket for San Diego. What in the world is going on out there? We’ll take a look.

And a major compromise in Washington DC with the repeal of Initiative 82, being replaced by a 25% tip credit by 2034. DC restaurants are breathing a sigh of relief while One Fair Wage is raising havoc. We’ll kick around what’s happening in the nation’s capital.

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

And the President was asked about recent legislation introduced by a Republican senator to increase the minimum wage to $15/hr. He was caught off-guard and didn’t offer an opinion, but unlike his Republican predecessors, he didn’t rule it out. We’ll discuss if there’s any “there” there.

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