The Working Lunch

Well it’s a new year and with the new year comes the opening of state legislatures across the country. We are joined once again by Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Affairs and Grassroots Advocacy for the National Restaurant Association who will walk us through the industry’s key issues for 2022 and what operators and industry executives need to know. And we’ll discuss what’s the status of the...

The Starbucks union battle rolls on with Boston becoming the new battleground as two locations in the city filed with the NLRB to conduct an organizing election. We are joined by journalist Tori Bedford with WGBH in Boston to give us the latest and greatest on what’s happening on the ground with particular insight into the organizing community itself. And for additional perspective, we are joined...

Well, the votes are in and we now have the first union organized Starbucks in the United States. We also have a unit that rejected the union and the decision on the third unit is still up in the air. We will do a deep dive into what happened this week, what’s next for Starbucks, and more importantly, what’s next for the industry. And McDonald’s made news this week announcing a quarter billion doll...

As predicted, the Starbucks unionization effort has started to grow and is now getting rooted in other jurisdictions, namely Mesa, Arizona this week. If that’s not enough, another effort is underway at an iconic family-owned restaurant chain in small town West Virginia. We’ll update you on the latest and greatest as unions continue setting their sights on the restaurant industry. And a key legisla...

The vote is on. Starbucks workers in three Buffalo locations have started to vote on whether or not to affiliate with a local SEIU chapter. The company tried to delay the process but the NLRB proceeded as scheduled. And if that’s not enough, this week three additional stores filed a new petition with the NLRB. We’ll discuss the Starbucks grande - or should we say venti - problem in which the compa...

It was an election night that Democrats will want to forget as Republicans swept Virginia and very nearly toppled the governor of New Jersey. We’ll discuss the electoral ramifications, the political environment and what operators should expect going forward. And the long-awaited final vaccine mandate rule - the Emergency Temporary Standard to be precise - was released by OSHA and it’s even more st...

Virginia and New Jersey will hold gubernatorial and legislative elections this week that not only will be a good indicator of the national mood but will have major impacts on key industry issues in those states. We’ll discuss those dynamics and even make some predictions. And In-N-Out Burger has rolled right into the culture wars becoming a national poster child for employer pushback on vaccine ma...

Restaurant Brands International took a huge industry-leading role in the sustainability space with their announcement that they have set substantial new climate-related targets on greenhouse gas emissions, pledging to cut their emissions in half by 2030 and be net-zero by 2050. We are visited by the team that led this effort - Becky Hall, Director of Global Sustainability & Natalie Pecile, Senior...

The times they are a-changin’ in the restaurant world as changes in consumer preferences and advances in technology are drastically altering business models and restaurant operations. We sit down with one of the leading drivers of change in our industry, REEF Technology, and their head of communications Mason Harrison, to understand the changing environment and how REEF looks at their role in that...

Another group of coffee shops - this time in Cambridge, Massachusetts - has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking union representation. This is the latest example of the uptick of grassroots-based union organizing campaigns currently underway in the industry. We'll discuss this effort, update you on the ongoing Starbucks effort, and what may be next for the industry. And...

Starbucks is facing a significant union organizing effort in Buffalo, but unlike recent campaigns, this one is not run by a local independent union but by allies of the SEIU itself. Phil Wilson, President & General Counsel of the Labor Relations Institute, joins the pod once again to walk us through what is happening on the ground in Buffalo and why it matters to all employers in the market. And t...

The unions had a big week as a Midwest chain of coffee shops lost a close union vote this week, the latest in a series of successful organizing campaigns in the upper Midwest blue wall states. Is the health and safety crisis we are facing just what the doctor ordered for the labor community? We’ll take a look at the opening the pandemic has provided. And some new data from the Bureau of Labor Stat...

The AFL-CIO makes its choice today to name Richard Trumpka’s interim successor and all indications are that Liz Shuler, Trumpka’s loyal right hand, will get the nod making her the first woman to ever lead the nation's largest union. Mike Saltsman, a frequent contributor to the pod and a partner with Berman & Company joins us to share his expertise on what the future looks like for Big Labor and wh...

More cities are requiring vaccination passports and masks for indoor dining with one state even bringing back dining restrictions. It feels like we are going backwards quickly and companies are increasingly enacting their own policies. We’ll discuss the increasing pressure on operators as the virus continues to rage. And the Democrats find themselves with their bench thinning as Andrew Cuomo is fo...

Masks and vaccinations are the story of the week with Governor’s squabbling with the President, Governor’s squabbling with each other, attorneys general squabbling with Mayor’s and once again, operators caught in the middle of both a health crisis and a political food fight. The two largest cities in America are soon to be mandating vaccination records to eat indoors and major companies are starti...

The Delta Variant is threatening to significantly disrupt the economy again just as the industry was showing signs of a meaningful recovery. And with it will bring new public affairs and employee relations challenges for operators including masks, immunizations and potentially the return of dining restrictions to name a few. We’ll take a look at what might be in store for restaurant owners both op...

This week, Washington, DC was a hotbed of legislative activity critically important to restaurant operators. Hearings on the nominations of industry adversaries, pieces of the PRO Act potentially being passed through reconciliation, the infrastructure bill and the fate of paid leave and child care are just a few of the issues in play during a busy week in the nation’s capital. We will dive into al...

Maine is about to enact the most far-reaching product stewardship law in the country dramatically redefining how traditional recycling plans have been structured. Following models in Europe and Canada, everyone along the supply chain - including restaurants and retailers - will have significant new responsibilities in handling waste and other packaging as well as bearing the cost of recycling. We...

The SBA has rejected yet another pool of Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant applicants because of pending litigation against the agency over their racial and gender preferences in distributing initial grants. As a result, thousands of restaurant owners still find themselves in limbo. We sit down with Sean Kennedy, EVP of Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association to get the latest on...

The Small Business Administration has been sued - ostensibly by restaurant owners in Texas and Tennessee over loan preferences for traditionally disadvantaged business owners, namely minorities and women with regard to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Behind the scenes however, the lawsuit is one among many begging choreographed by Trump Administration alumni to call out preferential treatment...

Congress and state legislators are beginning to get serious about the labor shortage facing employers. Discussions around tax incentives, government-funded hiring bonuses and other remedies are at the forefront of the conversation. We’ll discuss the state of play of this important issue and what operators should expect. And Walmart is the latest company to get a visit from activist shareholders de...

One Fair Wage Hits the streets for another round of worker protests, strikes and walkouts targeting high end restaurants in major metros. Their new message - “it’s not a labor shortage, it's a pay shortage” seems to be taking hold in some quarters and the press this week seems to be gobbling it up. We’ll take a look at this new dynamic in the wage conversation. And Emily Williams Knight joins us t...

Fight for $15 took to the streets this week targeting McDonald’s workers in 15 cities across the country organizing strikes and walkouts. This was staged on the same day as the McDonald's shareholder meeting to sync with shareholders and other activists calling for change. We’ll discuss, in light of the pending legislation in Congress, whether this moves the needle on the issue and whether they ca...

The political food fight around systemic racism and its potential causes and remedies is putting employers in an increasingly difficult spot. A major national employer was involved in a significant backlash this week and we’ll discuss what implications their experience can have for other employers. And the national conversation around the labor shortage got supercharged this week as the US Chamber...

The labor shortage continues to challenge the industry and operators are struggling to keep doors open. Data continues to emerge putting more and more context around the complexity of the issue and what challenges are short-term and which are likely chronic. We’ll take a look at some polling data from a leading university-based restaurant and hospitality management program that examines worker att...