The Working Lunch

We have two phenomenal guests on the pod this week. Phil Wilson from the Labor Relations Institute will join us to discuss organized labor’s most important piece of legislation to pass the U.S. House in generations - the PRO Act - and discuss its chances for passing the Senate, and if unsuccessful, what parts of it could be enacted by regulation. Most importantly, he will discuss the ramifications...

This week, researchers from the Universities of Tennessee and Pennsylvania released a study analyzing the impacts of the country’s model UBI experiment in Stockton, CA and they found that Universal Basic Income has been an extremely effective tool in fighting poverty and that it doesn’t disincentivize work. On top of that, the Wall Street Journal this week is calling President Biden’s stimulus pac...

The stimulus package, minus the minimum wage increase, is ready for debate on the House floor. Between wages, paid leave, employer liability, and changes to the SBA loan programs, the restaurant and retail business model has been in the spotlight all week. We’ll take a look how the industry fared and its prospects going forward. And the hazard pay conversation came to the forefront this week with...

We interview the publisher of Nation’s Restaurant News, Sarah Lockyer, who helps us celebrate our 200th Working Lunch podcast and gives us her insights on how far the industry has come since our first pod and, more importantly, where she sees the industry going. And the Align team discusses what the political leadership of the industry has gotten right over the past few years since we started this...

We’ll bring you up to speed on the latest and greatest regarding the federal minimum wage conversation including the release of the anticipated CBO report outlining potential impacts of raising the wage to $15/hr as well as the President meeting with the CEOs of major employers to try and sell his relief package and the wage hike. We discuss all of that. And despite the ramifications of the pandem...

The U.S. Senate, with Vice-President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote, passed the joint budget resolution that will enable Pres. Biden’s COVID relief package to ultimately be passed under the reconciliation process, meaning a simple majority vote. The House will follow suit almost immediately and while Biden and the restaurant industry were big winners, Bernie Sanders was not. His proposal to...

With the Biden Administration and many states intensifying their COVID-related workplace and workforce health and safety efforts, we sought out expert counsel from Ed Egee, the Vice President of Government Relations & Workforce Development at the National Retail Federation to help us sort it all out as well as discuss other pressing issues for the industry in Washington, DC. And speaking of pressi...

The National Restaurant Association and the major third-party delivery platforms have come together and agreed on a set of principles around transparency on fees, food safety, alcohol and other issues that will define their relationship going forward. We discuss this agreement with DoorDash’s Senior Policy Advisor Katie Witman and Mike Whatley, Vice President of State Government Relations at the N...

The Fight for 15 is back in action calling for protests and demonstrations in cities across the country to pressure the incoming Biden Administration into passing a $15/hr minimum wage. Considering the political dynamics in the Senate, just a few Senators, probably fewer than five, will decide the fate of any potential wage hike. We’ll take a look at the state of play on wages and discuss the indu...

It’s 2021 - thankfully - and with it brings a new Congress and the start of the state legislative sessions. We’ll talk to Mike Whatley who heads the state and local government affairs shop at the National Restaurant Association and get his perspective on the issues the industry will be tackling in 2021. And the last two weeks have been a pivotal time in the nation’s history. We’ve seen a dramatic...

Early and mail-in voting has started in Georgia and the stakes are high. Both parties are putting all they have into the races that will control the U.S. Senate. We are joined by our friend Joe Binns, a Principal at Chism Strategies in Atlanta and a longtime political operative in Georgia who will give us the lay of the land and share his observations from the ground level. And the U.S. Chamber of...

The states can’t wait any longer for the Feds to get their act together and are having to step in and take charge of both employee and consumer safety as well as industry relief. As usual, California and Oregon are out front. We talk to both Matt Sutton, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs & Public Policy at the California Restaurant Association and Bill Perry of Balance Point and the Oreg...

Vaccines appear to be on their way and governments at every level are discussing the logistics and prioritization of distribution. Restaurant workers have been dubbed “essential” throughout most of the pandemic but will they be considered the same way when it comes to vaccines? We’ll discuss the dynamics around this important issue. And in numerous states across the country, the restaurant industr...

We’re going to do a deep dive into the labor community and discuss their agenda and how they are approaching 2021. Mike Saltsman from the Employment Policies Institute joins us to discuss what’s ahead for organized labor and how the pandemic is helping them achieve their political, policy and organizing goals. And in response to alarming increases in COVID-19 infections, governors across the count...

The restaurant industry once again finds itself in the middle of the American cultural wars, with new attention given to an index highlighting the differences between Cracker Barrel voters and Whole Foods voters. How do operators navigate a landscape where their very brands become litmus tests for voter identification and tribal loyalty? We’ll take a look. And the Biden transition team is taking s...

We’re going to do a deep dive on the election results and drill down on what happened, why it happened, and what operators need to know going forward. Additionally, we will be joined by my old friend and colleague Gerard Dehrmann, the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and State & Local Government Relations for Walmart and get his insight on how the world’s largest company is viewing the poli...

The election is finally here and we’ll discuss what we see as the likely outcomes at the federal, state and local level - including a few very important ballot measures that will significantly affect P&Ls. We’ll also talk about the election aftermath and the potential for social unrest that could portend a significant security risk for small business owners, employees and customers. We discuss all...

This week, the nation’s mayors sat down with the restaurant industry to discuss ways in which mayors and their cities can help restaurants and their employees survive the pandemic and its aftermath. Sean Kennedy, the Executive Vice President for Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association, who oversaw that meeting, stops by the pod to tell us what happened, what we learned, and how we c...

Yelp is in the news this week as the crowd-sourced restaurant review platform announced it will include accusations of discrimination or alleged instances of racism by a brand in their restaurant listings. We’ll discuss this potentially seismic development and the boon it could be for anti-industry activists and detractors. And the private sector continues to advance the portable benefits issue do...

Restaurant relief appears to be dead for now. This week, the President abruptly cancelled negotiations on a stimulus package that included many industry priorities leaving thousands of restaurant operators and other small business owners to fend for themselves. And the associations that represent them in Washington, DC were not shy about showing their displeasure. We’ll discuss the bleak situation...

The U.S. House passed their long-awaited relief bill this week and while it is unlikely to pass the Senate in its current form, it is noteworthy because Democratic leaders championed and included many of the Independent Restaurant Coalition’s priorities while chains and franchisees were deliberately left out in the cold. Is there a political divide developing in the industry that may reshape our t...

Important players in the conservative intelligentia are calling for a new approach and relationship to the labor community and making the conservative case for not necessarily traditional unions but worker empowerment. We will sit down with Eli Lehrer, President of R Street Institute and discuss his recent joint statement in the American Compass calling for a new paradigm in labor relations. And D...

We interview Sean Kennedy, Executive Vice President for Public Affairs at the National Restaurant Association and get his perspective on the likelihood that Congress will come to the aid of the industry anytime soon. He’ll let us know where things stand in Washington and how the industry is working to support operators. We’ll also discuss the recent CDC report and how both operators and corporate...

It’s happened again in Minneapolis. This week yet another brew pub in the city became a target for UNITE HERE and, as we discussed last week, we are not overly surprised. What was surprising, however, was how that particular management team reacted. We’ll discuss what they did and what the potential implications could be. And Samantha Padgett, General Counsel for the Florida Restaurant & Lodging A...

This week saw our industry’s first successful union election in the post-Covid era when a Tattersall Distillery and cocktail bar location in Minneapolis overwhelmingly voted to organize. We’ll take a look at the factors that contributed to this, the vulnerability of that particular market and what operators need to pay attention to going forward. And we talk automation with Jamie Richardson, the V...