The Working Lunch

Say it ain’t so! A conservative Republican senator - Josh Hawley from Missouri - has teamed up with a liberal senator from Vermont to introduce legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. While the bill may or may not get traction, the bigger issue is the changing relationship that Republicans are forging with organized labor and working class voters. We’ll take a look.

And we are joined by Kelsey Streufert with the Texas Restaurant Association to talk about their recently-adjourned session and the remarkable progress they made on streamlining local permitting and fee processes as well as pushing back against the credit card duopoly that runs our payment systems.

And then we talk with Amanda Stone from the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association to discuss this week’s election resultsand what a new governor and legislative mix mean for the state and the industry.

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

Say it ain’t so! A conservative Republican senator - Josh Hawley from Missouri - has teamed up with a liberal senator from Vermont to introduce legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. While the bill may or may not get traction, the bigger issue is the changing relationship that Republicans are forging with organized labor and working class voters. We’ll take a look.

And we are joined by Kelsey Streufert with the Texas Restaurant Association to talk about their recently-adjourned session and the remarkable progress they made on streamlining local permitting and fee processes as well as pushing back against the credit card duopoly that runs our payment systems.

And then we talk with Amanda Stone from the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association to discuss this week’s election resultsand what a new governor and legislative mix mean for the state and the industry.

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

Say it ain’t so! A conservative Republican senator - Josh Hawley from Missouri - has teamed up with a liberal senator from Vermont to introduce legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. While the bill may or may not get traction, the bigger issue is the changing relationship that Republicans are forging with organized labor and working class voters. We’ll take a look.

And we are joined by Kelsey Streufert with the Texas Restaurant Association to talk about their recently-adjourned session and the remarkable progress they made on streamlining local permitting and fee processes as well as pushing back against the credit card duopoly that runs our payment systems.

And then we talk with Amanda Stone from the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association to discuss this week’s election resultsand what a new governor and legislative mix mean for the state and the industry.

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

We visit once again with Maggie Gentile, a partner at Food Directions and our industry’s resident expert on food policy, who stopped by the pod to talk about last week’s MAHA Commission report - what’s in it, what wasn’t in it, what comes next, and lastly, what it means to operators.

And the industry had a big week on both coasts with regard to minimum wage. We’ll talk about the effort underway in Washington, DC taht paused and may fully repeal the voter-passed ballot initiative to eliminate the tip credit as well as a new campaign in Los Angeles to roll back the city’s new $30/hr minimum wage law for hospitality workers.

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

We talk once again to Aaron Frazier, the Vice-President of Public Policy for the National Restaurant Association to get the lastest on the status of the President’s “big, beautiful” tax bill and what the industry can expect out of the current package on the table. We’ll also chat about tariffs and the MAHA Commission report coming later this week.

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

A new MAGA-focused trade association is taking shape offering enhanced access to Trump Admiistration officials and to the President himself. The new group is forming at a time when the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have encountered some significant friction with the Trump White House. Is this a potential threat or opportunioty for brands and their traditional trade associations? We’ll discuss.

And a bipartisan working group in Congress has introduced legislation dramatically altering the playing field with regard to paid leave. Is the idea of a traditional, government-run paid leave program funded by payroll taxes a relic of the past? We’ll take a look.

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

We sit down with Aaron Frazier, Vice President of Public Policy at the National Restaurant Association, to discuss the pending tax bill, reconciliation, and what operators should expect at the end of the process.

And Republicans across the country seem to be taking aim at voter-passed initiatives on minimum wage and paid leave among other issues. The problem is that despite large majorities in Florida, Missouri and Nebraska, they have been stymied. We’ll discuss why that is happening and if Republicans are ultimately pivoting on key business model issues.

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

Despite a terrible winning record the last few years, One Fair Wage seems to be making a stand in one of the last few big blue states, this time New Jersey. Is it their swan song or the beginning of a comeback? We’ll discuss.

And then we’ll talk about tariffs and the 90- day window of breathing space the Administration gave us. Is it a given that the small guys are the most vulnerable or do the big ones have unique exposures themselves? We’ll take a look.

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

It looks like the MAHA train has pulled into Baton Rouge and offloaded one of the most expansive food policy reform bills we have seen to date. The legislation covers ingredients, oils, sugary beverages and even SNAP eligibility and appears to be a huge priority of the governor. We’ll unpack what it means not only in Louisiana but elsewhere across the country.

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

Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. This week the President laid out some of the most aggressive tariff policies in recent American history causing instability in corporate boardrooms, workforces, world markets and with our trading partners themselves. But how should industry leaders look at this? Well, to answer that question, we sat down with one. We had a conversation with Fat Brands Founder and Chairman Andy Wiederhorn who walked us through the challenges that these tariff policies are creating for their business model, their supply chain, their growth plans, and their relationship with current or prospective franchisees.

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