The Working Lunch

It seems the media - and many politicians - are obsessed with the issue of surveillance pricing. Does anyone in our industry actually do surveillance pricing? Might some be looking to go down that road? We’ll do a deep with Brennan Duckett, Director of Regulatory & Policy at the National Association of Convenience Stores, to help us sort it out and manage expectations for what may be coming do...

We are joined once again by Michael Washburn, Principal of Washburn Consulting who has worked with the National Restaurant Association and major national brands to help navigate the increasingly turbulent waters around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Michael will give us the latest updates regarding important pending litigation, the states to watch in 2027 and the long-term future of the i...

We are joined once again by the industry’s premier food and nutrition expert Maggie Gentile, a partner at Food Directions, to manage our expectations going forward on what’s happening with a potential federal definition of ultraprocessed foods and what the industry might have in store. And this week Meta was forced to cough up almost $18 billion dollars to a group of attorney generals over accusat...

The FDA was busy this week publishing a proposed rule to replace the current voluntary Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notification program with a mandatory GRAS notification framework. In addition, they submitted placeholder paperwork with the intent of promulgating a long-awaited proposed definition for “ultra-processed foods.” What is driving this sudden outburst of regulatory action at the...

We start off the podcast this week with an update on what's happening in Washington on the hemp beverage front and whether forces in Congress and the White House can agree on a framework for this emerging industry product line. And then we are joined once again by Michael Halen, Senior Restaurant Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence to talk about the state of the industry, the financial health of...

As we reported last week, the National Restaurant Association sent a letter to Congressional leaders asking them to delay by two years the forthcoming hemp product ban to provide the predictability operators need and to allow Congress the time to rethink its approach for a regulatory alternative that responsibly meets consumer demand. We are joined once again by Mike Whatley, the Vice President of...

Legislation is pending in the U.S. Senate that would drastically speed up the process for organizing unions in the workplace. The bill has already passed the Republican-led House and could be on the senate floor any day. We’re joined once again by Ed Egee, VP of Government Relations and Workforce Development at the National Retail Federation to analyze the bill and the threats it poses to the indu...

The industry has had a tough couple of weeks regarding its long-running feud with the banks and credit card companies coming up on the wrong end of a highly anticipated court decision and the veto pen. We’re joined once again by Dan Swanson, Counsel to the Merchants Payment Coalition to tell us what happened, why it happened, and more importantly, where do we go from here. And a few states held pr...

The primary election for Governor of California is next Tuesday and it's anyone's guess which two candidates will emerge to face off in November. We are joined by Nikki Laurenzo, the host and Executive Producer of Inside California Politics and the evening anchor of Fox40 News in Sacramento to give us the lay of the land and what we might expect from the results. And speaking of California...

The industry got an unprecedented win in Colorado over the banking and credit card lobby with passage of legislation to prohibit interchange fees on sales taxes and tips. The bill is now on the governor's desk but its future is uncertain. If signed, could the momentum in this long-running battle have finally shifted? We’ll take a look. And the city of Chicago does a remarkable backtrack on its...

Steak n’ Shake, never shy when it comes professing their admiration of the Trump Administration, upped the ante last week when it appointed a new Chief Make America Healthy Again Officer. We’ll discuss the political and policy impacts that this may have for other large brands as well as the industry itself. And the tough economy has emboldened the restaurant industry to enter into legislative fray...

To showcase his no tax on tips victory, President Trump leveraged Tax Day to have a “DoorDash Grandma” deliver McDonald’s right to the door of the Oval Office. Shamelessly staged event? Of course. Perfectly executed? Of course. We’ll discuss his ongoing infatuation with The Clown and his efforts to woo working class voters. And Ed Egee from the National Retail Federation stops by to discuss the le...

Over the last week, RFK, Jr. and his MAHA movement have been all over the headlines. From his national road shows to his new attack on microplastics to his new podcast, he has become a one-man news cycle. We’ll discuss how the industry should be viewing these developments and hopefully getting ahead of these issues. And we’re only six months away from the mid-term elections so we’ll do a deep dive...

We sit down once again with the team from Washburn Consulting, advisors to many key industry brands and associations, and get an update on the state of play with regard to Extended Producer Responsibility. Michael Washburn and Chloe Kapanen will stop by to discuss new proposals in state capitols, ongoing rulemaking and compliance challenges throughout the states and even chat about pending litigat...

There is a potential supply chain disruption looming for operators caused by a work stoppage at one of the largest beef processing plants in the country. We are joined by Phil Wilson, the CEO of the Labor Relations Institute, to help us understand not only what’s going on at the JB Swift plant in Greeley, Colorado but the overall union organizing environment relative to the restaurant industry. An...

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took aim at two prominent restaurant brands last week – namely Dunkin and Starbucks - over the amount of sugar in some of their drink offerings. Recently he escalated a conversation over ultra-processed foods. Now it's over sugar. Who or what will be his target next time? We’ll take a look And what comes around, goes around. Fair Share healthcare legislatio...

The President delivered his State of The Union Address this week and outside of the predictable antics, was there anything substantive in there for restaurant operators? We’ll take a look And Washington state has rolled out a golden oldie, taking another run at “Fair Share” health legislation which is another way of saying per employee head tax. We’ll dive into what’s going with that bill and the...

The industry had two big wins this week in the courtroom on two different major issues facing the industry. In Illinois, a federal judge ruled that with regard to swipe fees, not only are Visa & Mastercard not protected by federal preemption, neither are the banks as well. This clears the ways for continued state level efforts by the industry to reign in out of control swipe fees. We’ll discus...

The MAHA movement continues to grow and with it, so does the potential threat to the industry. Last week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blamed the tobacco companies for getting kids addicted to ultra-processed food. You heard that right. Food. In the ‘90s, many tobacco companies diversified after the big tobacco settlement and bought up controlling interests in many other industries, includ...

The situation in Minneapolis has taken a sharp turn for the worse and business owners, their customers, and perhaps most importantly, their employees are right in the middle of it. We’ll discuss the challenges operators are having in navigating this space and protecting their interests while avoiding the politics.  We’ll talk about that issue and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.

The Disruptor in Chief has struck again - this time completely rearranging the proverbial furniture regarding the decades-long war between retailers and the banks over swipe fees. This week, the President endorsed the Credit Card Competition Act cutting the knees out of the credit card companies as part of his ongoing battle against the banking industry. How will this change the game? We’ll take a...

The Department of Agriculture released a new set of dietary guidelines championing protein and healthy fats while minimizing grains. The new recommendations essentially turn the old food pyramid upside down, encouraging Americans to eat whole foods like fruits and vegetables, to incorporate healthy fats, to prioritize protein-rich meals including red meat and to consume full-fat dairy and whole gr...

We take a look at the key issue and reputational threats the industry faced in 2025 and discuss what the current state of play is and most importantly, what we should expect in 2026. Take a listen.

In a historic first, San Francisco's city attorney has filed a lawsuit against some of the largest U.S. manufacturers of ultra-processed foods that he says have made Americans sick. Chiu argued the foods have created a health care crisis that has led to serious chronic diseases, which ultimately places a burden on U.S. cities. Chiu claimed the companies have copied the "addiction science...