Welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, a podcast for leaders of growing restaurant companies looking

to take their businesses to the next level. In nearly two decades covering restaurants, I've gained

access to some of this industry's most influential decision makers, and I'm letting you in on the

conversations. In today's episode, you'll hear from the leader of the industry's largest trade

association about restaurant trends

we should expect to see in 26 and about operator sentiment coming out of a tough 2025.

Michelle Korsmo is 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 that are affecting their businesses.

That report came out just a

couple of weeks ago, and Michelle joined the podcast to dive into the data and to talk

specifically about the economy, workforce trends, and how technology is reshaping the restaurant

operation. We 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 will learn more about why you should pay close attention to your

workforce and operational efficiencies if you want to succeed in 2026, how tech can help make employees happier and therefore lower turnover,

and why the boom in off-premises business seems to have stabilized.

If you learn something from this episode,

go follow takeaway wherever you listen to podcasts and leave some feedback.

It's the best way to get those lessons to a fellow restaurant leader.

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