One of the restaurant industry’s persistent political gripes is that it’s governed by individuals who know nothing about the business. That situation will likely change in restaurants’ favor next Congress because of last week’s primary race in North Carolina, according to this week’s edition of Working Lunch, the Restaurant Business podcast focused on legislative and regulatory issues.
As co-hosts Joe Kefauver and Franklin Coley note, the controversial incumbent Rep. Madison Cawthorn was beaten in North Carolina’s Republican primary election by Chuck Edwards, a state senator who’s flipped his share of burgers as a McDonald’s franchisee.
North Carolina tends to vote Republican in general elections. Indeed, Cawthorn was seen as far-right conservative and avid supporter of Donald Trump.
The industry has seen some of its own ascend Capital Hill before. House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is an alumnus of the business, for instance.
But as the principals of Align Public Strategies note, it’s aways better to have someone who speaks your language also making the laws that will govern your business.
Kefauver and Coley also discuss the flare-up last week between Starbucks and the White House on union matters, and the sniping back and forth between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the Biden administration on inflation.
You can download Working Lunch wherever you get your podcasts.
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