RESTAURANT PROFITABILITY TAKES A HIT Median pre-tax income has fallen for both full-service and limited-service restaurants, according to the National Restaurant Association. That lack of profitability is a major talking point for the group.
While the restaurant labor market has improved in recent years, more than one in five restaurants still say they’re under - staffed, according to the association. The group wants to push Congress to pass immigration reform to protect the workforce that is here and provide a path to citizenship for those people who came to the U.S. when they were young and remain productive, law-abiding citizens. Several people who work with Westover Taco in Arlington, Virginia, are on temporary protected status. “Several of our workers are definitely relying on that,” Sarah White, the restaurant’s owner, said at the conference. “We have three or four people on the same status. What would happen to our restau- rant if we lose that every night?” So why would this year be any different than the last 40? “My radical theory is that immigration has the highest chance of working under Donald Trump,” Kennedy said. “If he’s going to bring the MAGA base and the traditional Republican base together, only he can drive it. And he’s got two years and nine months
to achieve it. I think it can be done, but the stars have to be in alignment.” One reason Trump could shift that atten- tion? The border is secure. “We have a se- cure border, so if you look at it from an une- motional perspective, now would be a great time to make these things happen,” Korsmo said. TRADE AND TARIFFS Another potential concern is the U.S.-Mexi- co Canada Agreement, or USMCA, the trade deal formerly known as NAFTA. That agree- ment is undergoing a joint review set for July 1 of this year. The politics and chances of that agree- ment have changed under Trump, who has made tariffs a focal point of his policy. The association wants to preserve food-and-bev- erage tariff exemptions. “The president doesn’t want anybody to feel confident about tariffs, because he’s go - ing into a negotiation,” Korsmo said. The association estimates that the 25% tariff Trump issued last year added $12 bil- lion in total food costs to consumers. The
Supreme Court ruled those tariffs illegal, but the president immediately responded by applying a 10% tariff on nearly all countries under a different law that is set to expire af- ter 150 days. Korsmo noted that the association has succeeded at getting exemptions for food and beverage in the past, and affordability remains a crucial issue. “We need to keep making that message, because the president wants this to be an uncertain situation,” Korsmo said. Still, Congress is divided. And this is a midterm election season. Why would Con- gress be willing to do much of anything over the next few months when they have voters to answer to come November? Then again, why not? Congress wants to tell the voters they did something. That has fueled plenty of big legislation during mid- term election years. The Homeland Securi- ty Act was passed in 2002, as was the Sar- banes-Oxley Act. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010. “It’s one of the bigger misconceptions that nothing happens in mid- term election years,” Kennedy said.
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS APRIL 2026
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