The Working Lunch

We sit down with Misty Chally, the Executive Director of the Critical Labor Coalition to discuss what that group is doing in Congress to address and potentially alleviate the labor crunch that operators can’t seem to climb out of. And we update you on the national autoworkers strike and what ramifications its success or failure may have on presidential politics in Michigan and other labor movement...

We’ll discuss what happened in Chicago this week with a major shift in perceived industry positioning with regard to tip credit elimination. We are joined by Berman & Company’s Mike Saltsman for his analysis of what happened, why it happened and how the industry manages the issue going forward. And Sean Kennedy, the Executive Vice President of Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association...

The new proposed overtime rule is out and we discuss the impact - better than we thought, worse than we thought, or about what we thought. We’ll discuss the impact, the process going forward, and what’s next for operators. And the NLRB released yet another decision last month, the Stericycle decision, that may make every employer rewrite large segments of their employee handbooks. We’ll explain. A...

The National Labor Relations Board has turned union election rules upside down, issuing new regulations around quickie “ambush” elections and instituting a de facto card check rule, making union organiziaing significantly easier. We’ll discuss the ramifications for all employers large and small And the world of alcohol continues to change, both from consumer tastes and trends to laws and regulator...

We’ll have a conversation with Michael Formica, the Chief Legal Strategist for the National Pork Porducers Council to talk about supply chain ramifications from recent legal and legislative outcomes regarding gestation crates, interstate commerce and more. We’ll discuss what operators large and small need to know about impacts to the current prices and market and more importantly, down the road. A...

We are joined by Sean Kennedy, the Executive Vice President Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association to bring us up to speed on the epic ongoing battle in California facing all restaurant operators and how the next few months will play out legislatively and politically. And speaking of the NRA, Sean’s colleague Mike Whatley, the Vice President of State Affairs & Grassroots Advocacy,...

We visit with Ed Egee, Vice President of Government Relations and Workforce Development at the National Retail Federation who will discuss the emerging policy and legal challenges around Artifical Intelligence. The big question is - Does Artificail Intelligence make it easier to artificially discriminate? The Trial Bar sure seems to think so. We’ll dive into that and other pending issues with Ed a...

The Industrial Welfare Commission is potentially being revived in California and could have momentous consequences for the restaurant industry. We are joined by Ben Ebbink, an attorney with Fisher & Phillips in Sacramento and of counsel to the California Restaurant Association to fully understand the moving parts of the IWC and what it means for operators. And the Labor world has been busy this Su...

The unions in California have resurrected an old friend from the past - the Industrial Wage Commission - as the latest weapon to torment the quick service industry. What does this development mean for all restaurant employers? We’ll discuss. And the Supreme Court has issued a couple of decisions - and one important non-decision - that all employers should pay close attention to. Those actions, cou...

The issue of service fees is making front page news lately as operators look for ways to pass on high labor costs. Along with a changing dynamic around tipping, could the industry be setting itself up for a fight with policy makers and opinion leaders? We’ll discuss. And the tip credit elimination battle in Chicago heated up this week with the mayor clearly leading the charge. If they are successf...

A new report is out this week examining consumer trends with regard to alcohol, especially wine and cocktails to go. Since the public has overwhelmingly embraced these pandemic-era advances, can any policy makers really stand in the way at this point? Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Affairs & Grassroots Advocacy for the National Restaurant Association who issued the report, joins us and will...

Sectoral Bargaining has come to Minnesota - in the nursing home - space specifically but all employers should be watching. It’s not the industry your in that’s important - it’s the process. We’ll discuss how intentionally the labor community is leveraging independent standards boards as a way to force collective action. And we’ll discuss the steps that companies are increasingly taking to manage t...

We are going to follow-up on the latest from our story of a few weeks regarding the Supreme Court decision on California’s law around humane treatment of breeding hogs. We are joined by Laura Abshire of the National Restaurant Association and Steve Clark from the Massachusetts Restaurant Asscoiation to get both of their perspectives on where the issue goes from here - hint, Massachusetts. And righ...

One Fair Wage and the Restaurant Opportunities Center (and their SEIU funders) have grabbed on to the child labor issue and are effectively leveraging it to their advantage. The same advocates effectively leveraged health and safety issues during the pandemic - just ask Starbucks and Chipotle. Could we be seeing a new angle on the organizing front? We’ll discuss. And Target becomes the latest corp...

This week, a number of states and localities across the country held local elections and the results, while difficult from which to draw national meaning, seem to be slightly better news for the blue team than the red. We’ll take a look at that. And we continue to watch third-party contractors from big companies like Google and Amazon make progress toward potential union organizing. Could companie...

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed California’s law regarding humane treatment of hogs and their right to apply those standards to pork produced in the state as well as products from out of state. We’ll discuss the implications to the marketplace for operators. And the city of Chicago gets a new mayor and city council this week and the restaurant industry plays heavily into the new mayor's...

The industry is falling into a child-labor trap of its own making that will very likely come back to bite us hard. Why on earth, might you ask, would we give our opponents that kind of ammunition? We’ll take a run at that one. And Scott Dolch, the President & CEO of the Connecticut Restaurant Association stops by the pod to discuss the status of critical scheduling and tip credit elmiation legisla...

We take a look at the ongoing punishment conservatives are dishing out to respected consumer brands who run afoul of their litmus tests on “wokeism”. What can restaurant brands learn from the Disney and Bud Light sagas? We’ll discuss. And the unionization activity by third-party providers for Amazon and Google have significant joint employer ramifications that could affect all franchised brands do...

We discuss the confirmation hearing of Labor Secretary-designate Julie Su and the energy that both the labor community brought to her defense and the business community, led by the IFA and the NRA, brought to her opposition. And we visit with longtime industry leader, Stan Harris, President & CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, who shares his insight on the difficult environment facing op...

A couple of big brands this week announced some vigorous sustainability initiatives, namely Wendy’s & Chipotle. We’ll discuss those efforts and whether they fall in the category of good PR or preparing the business for the future - or both. And the ongoing tussle between some franchisees and their franchisor parents played out in a couple of state legislatures this week. We’ll take a look at the v...

We do a deep dive on the changing dynamics around tipping not only from an operational and reputational perspective, but ultimately politically as well. We’ll discuss all of this with Peter Romeo and Joe Guszkowski, two of the major contributors to Restaurant Business magazine’s recent project entitled, “Tipping Point” And in political news, we had some important elections this week in Chicago and...

We’re going to do a deep dive on Howard Shultz’s appearance before Bernie Sanders and the Senate HELP committee and assess his performance, whether or not it was a “win” for Bernie and what it means going forward for both the company and its powerful detractors. We'll be joined by Peter Romeo from Restaurant Business magazine who covered the hearing extensively and get his unique insight on the pr...

The Starbucks Workers United union put their cards on the table this week and unveiled their demands before company managers. The menu includes a $20/hr minimum starting wage - even higher in some places - a 37 hour week, free healthcare and schedules a month in advance. Let the games begin! And speaking of $20 minimum wages, has that become the new normal in the ongoing national debate. Has the F...

The war between Main Street and Wall Street over credit card interchange fees has spilled over into the states and we take a look at how certain states are attempting to exclude state and local taxes from inclusion in those fees. We talk to our old friend and colleague Joe Rinzel, now a principal at MultiState Associates, to get us up to speed on what’s going on. And the CEO of the Michigan Restau...

The big announcement this week is that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will voluntarily testify in front of Sen. Sander’s committee to answer some presumably tough questions about the unionization campaign at his company. We’ll discuss what that hearing may look like and how it may bleed into an overall assault on the restaurant industry. And we visit with Chicago political veteran Ryan McLaughlin to...