National Restaurant Association CEO on what restaurant leaders should expect from 2026

About this episode

Sam Oches interviews Michelle Korsmo about the National Restaurant Association's insights on the restaurant industry's future and key legislative issues.

In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Michelle Korsmo, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, an organization that represents hundreds of thousands of restaurants at all levels of government. The association issues an annual State of the Industry report every year with in-depth research on how restaurants performed in the prior year, how things are expected to go in the year ahead, and how operators are feeling about the trends affecting their business. That report just came out a couple weeks ago and Michelle joined the podcast to dive into the data and talk specifically about the economy, workforce trends, and how technology is reshaping the restaurant operation. They also talked about the association’s three biggest legislative priorities today: immigration reform, the credit card competition act, and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. In this conversation, you’ll find out why: To succeed in 2026, you should pay close attention to your workforce and operational efficiencies The industry will add a million jobs in the next decade, and we need young people and immigrants to help fill them Tech can help make employees happier, which…

People in this episode

Host: Sam Oches

Guest: Michelle Korsmo

Topics covered

• restaurant industry trends
• workforce development
• technology in restaurants
• legislative priorities
• economic outlook

Keywords

• restaurant association
• State of the Industry report
• workforce trends
• technology
• legislation
• economic outlook
• job growth

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Restaurant Association, U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, credit card competition act, immigration reform

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