The Working Lunch

We’ll take a stab at answering a question that likely has never been asked before - namely what do California and West Virginia have in common? The answer: They have both enacted strict laws regarding food additives, dyes and preservatives. But while California’s laws were largely targeted at kids and school meals, West Virginia has taken aim at all products produced or sold in the state making them officially the first state to enact RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again aagenda.

We are joined once again by Maggie Gentile, a partner at Food Directions and a consultant to the National Restaurant Association to help us sort it out, what it means in the short term for suppliers and restaurants, and what else may be coming down the pike.

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

We sit down with the Independant Restaurant Coalition’s Erika Polmer and Robert St. John to get a status report on the organization, the role it’s playing in the industry and their agenda for 2025.

And Gywnne Wilcox is back on the job at the NLRB bit with a huge asterisk hanging over her head. We’ll take a look at that.

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

We’re going to talk swipe fees with the NRA’s Brennan Duckett to update you on the status of the industry’s national effort to push back on the Visa and Mastercard payments duopoly that is bleeding restaurant owners dry.

And then we’ll take a look at a national boycott of Target, Amazon and Walmart over their DEI practices and discuss whether they are an effective tool and should restaurant brands be nervous?

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

The Independent restaurant Coalition has remade its Board Leadership and is looking to reingage in conversations Important to the industry. Is this a help or a hindrance to the industry’s national issue agenda? We’ll take a look.

And this week the President released a target list - his words - of companies that his administration will be going after over their DEI-related policies and a couple of major restaurant and supplier brands ended up on that list. We’ll assess the landscape for those companies and the broader industry going forward.

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

We sat down with Davis Bae, the Managing Partner of the Seattle Office of Fisher & Phillips to talk about the immigration issue and how operators need to prepare for the foreseeable future. Is this a passing fad or the new normal? We’ll discuss.

And we take a few minutes to discuss a future business model that includes cloud kitchens and what Travis Kalanick of Uber fame is up to in that area.

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

We sat down with Jonathan Gold, the Vice President of Supply Chain & Customs Policy at the National Retail Federation to talk about the President’s tariffs policy and its impact on the industry and the broader economy going forward.

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

In an unprecedented move, President Trump fired two members of the National Labor Relations Board as well as the General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo. While removing the GC is permissible, the removal of Board members without cause is legally tenuous at best and most likely not legal at all. We take a look.

And the no taxes on tips conversation is raging at the state level with a number of states tackling the issue. Is this good news or another challenge for the industry to navigate? We’ll do a deep dive on that.

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

Well it was a rock’em sock’em first week for the Trump Administration as countless executive orders, pardons and personnel changes have been executed in only the first four days. At the forefront of all this is the White House’s determination to begin large-scale immigration raids any day now. We’ll take a look at this fundamental threat to the industries’ workforce, what may happen over the next days and weeks and what operators large and small should prepare for.

And there are new sheriffs in town at two agency’s important to all employers - the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. We’ll go over what to expect and why it matters.

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

The portable benefits issue is back in the news as DoorDash strikes another agreement - this time with the state of Georgia - to pilot a portable benefits program for its drivers. There is growing consensus within liberal and conservative circles that portable benefits regumes are here to stay and a plausible solution for millions of gig economy workers without traditional benefits. We’ll discuss where the issue is going and whether the restaurant industry will meaningfully engage.

Starbucks and their public bathroom policy is back in the news as they reverse their policy implemented by Howard Schultz in response to the PR debacle in a Philadelphia restaurant in 2018. Is Starbucks really protecting their employees or bending to the political winds? We would argue that they’re doing both.

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

After a nearly 20-year separation, the SEIU and the AFL-CIO have kissed and made and now are back on the same team, joining forces just before a potentially union-hostile administration takes office. We’ll discuss the volatile history of the two organizations, why they reunited, and what it could mean for the industry.

And this week, the U.S. Surgeon General called for expanded warning labels on alcohol, alerting consumers to the possible carcinogenic effects of drinking. Should the industry be worried either now or in the future? We’ll discuss.

And McDonald’s got in line with other major American companies and walked back many of their DEI initiatives and hiring goals. We take a look at why this might be an increasingly complicated conversation for the industry going forward.

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