News

Hospitality Leader, Union, Makes Physical Credit Cards A Thing of the Past With its New Point-of-Sale Solution for iPhone

Union estimates that bars and restaurants can unlock billions of dollars of untapped revenue by supporting consumers’ demand for digital payments Source: Union September 19, 2023 Union, a data-driven hospitality engagement platform, has released a point-of-sale solution that allows servers and bartenders to use iPhones to place guests orders and process payments tableside, completely eliminating…

Vote on Credit Card Competition Act Could Happen This Week

Movement comes after Visa, Mastercard plan to raise network, interchange fees By Hannah Hammond on Sep. 18, 2023 A vote on the Credit Card Competition Act could happen as early as this week, the National Association of Convenience Stores said. Sponsors of the legislation, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), are advocating for the bill…

Chicago could become largest U.S. city to independently abolish tipped wage under Mayor Brandon Johnson compromise –

Chicago Tribune Sept. 19, 2023   The new substitute ordinance, set to be introduced in a City Council committee this week, would mandate that Chicago businesses offer tipped workers the same minimum wage as all other employees in the city within the next five years.

Bump Williams Consulting: Consumers Paying +$4 More for Beer in 2023 versus 2019

Source: https://www.brewbound.com/ Zoe Licata September 6, 2023 The average case price for beer in grocery stores has increased +16.7% since 2019, with consumers now paying more than $4 more in 2023 than they were pre-pandemic, according to Bump Williams Consulting (BWC) founder Bump Williams in his monthly industry update. The beer category has now “priced…

Restaurant association offers alternative to ending subminimum wage for tipped workers

Impose stiff fines on restaurants that don’t pay the difference when their subminimum wage workers don’t make enough in tips to reach the $15.80 minimum wage, restaurant association chief suggests. By  Fran Spielman Updated Sept 6, 2023, 6:50pm CDT The Illinois Restaurant Association is trying a different approach in a long-shot bid to discourage the Chicago City…

Restaurants in disbelief after news of another swipe-fee hike

The charges for U.S. operators are already the highest in the world. Now Mastercard and Visa are said to be planning hikes.   Source: https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/ August 31, 2023   Reports of a coming increase in credit-card swipe fees weren’t much of a surprise for the restaurant industry’s government watchdogs, who’ve been pressing lawmakers for years…

States with weaker marijuana laws see more impaired driving, report says

By Casey Harper | The Center Square Sep 3, 2023 (The Center Square) – States with less restrictive marijuana policies have higher incidents of residents driving while high, a new report finds. The Drug Free America Foundation released a new report showing that states that have legalized or weakened restrictions around high-THC marijuana, either for medical…

Millions more workers would be entitled to overtime pay under a proposed Biden administration rule

BY ALEXANDRA OLSON Updated 5:08 PM CDT, August 30, 2023 Share NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden administration proposed a new rule Wednesday that would make 3.6 million more U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay, the most generous such increase in decades. The rule revives an Obama-era effort that faced pushback from business leaders and Republicans and was ultimately…

America’s Fight Over Tipping at Restaurants Comes to Its Biggest Battleground Yet

Chicago restaurants say they will have to boost prices, cut staff if ‘sub-minimum wage’ proposal becomes law Source: https://www.wsj.com/ August 21, 2023 A national battle over tipping has come to one of America’s culinary capitals. Servers, restaurant owners and lawmakers in Chicago are debating whether waitstaff and other restaurant workers should be able to earn…

Using a Credit Card? At These Restaurants It’ll Cost You

As inflation and high credit card fees continue to affect a restaurant’s bottom line, more owners are tacking on a new charge for using a credit card. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/ August 15, 2023 Last year, when food prices rose along with so many other costs, José Theoktisto began to think about how to lower operating expenses…