The Small Business Administration has rejected yet another pool of Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant applications 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. On this week’s episode of the Working Lunch podcast, the team from Align Public Strategies sat down with Sean Kennedy, EVP of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, to get the latest on the state of play of the situation and what the road ahead looks like.
The larger legacy players in the restaurant industry seem to have stabilized financially in the wake of the pandemic. The podcast is joined by Michael Halen, Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior restaurant analyst, who looks at the financial landscape, the impact of stimulus checks on sales and unemployment checks on labor, and what the overall economic health of the industry is right now.
There was a slew of local elections across the country this week, most notably in New York City and in Buffalo, N.Y., where the country will now have its first socialist mayor in nearly 60 years. The team discusses what happened and what it means moving ahead. The podcast wraps up with the legislative scorecard.
Align Public Strategies is a full-service public affairs and creative firm that helps corporate brands, governments and nonprofits navigate the outside world and inform their internal decision-making. This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or management of Nation's Restaurant News or Restaurant Hospitality.