SCRAMBLE: BREAKING: Minnesota’s hospitality industry ‘on the brink of no return’

Garage Logic

Gamut Podcast Network

News

4.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Minnesota’s nearly $9 billion hospitality industry “is on the brink of no return,” according to a new report warning that years of mounting regulation and economic uncertainty threaten to decimate a key part of the state’s economy.

The new survey from Hospitality Minnesota found that only a third of restaurants, hotels and other tourism businesses expect a better spring than last year. In contrast, nearly three-quarters expected a better spring in 2021.

“We’ve not recovered since the pandemic,” said Angie Whitcomb, Hospitality Minnesota’s president and CEO. “We are at a point now where it is dire and we’re starting to see the effects of this.”

ALSO: (Courtesy of Alpha News and Liz Collin)

EXCLUSIVE: Spending on nonprofits has doubled in a decade in Minnesota’s most-populated county, says entrepreneur

"I think that people, as they've learned more about how those tax dollars have been wasted and defrauded, they're surprised at first and I think there just comes to be this point of, candidly, just a little bit of anger," said Kevin Peterson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the weekly scramble, a place where we chat about life over a cold one, or two.
0:14.1	It's time to belly up to the pod with Mike Fradolone and your host, Chris Revers.
1:11.3	That's right. It's time for the weekly scramble podcast. My name is Chris Revers with me as always. His name is Mike Fradolone. Hello, Michael. How you doing, Revers? I'm doing well. We were not on last week. We had some best of weekly scramble material that was in our place because we were both enjoying. I listened to that best stuff, not so great. I thought it was good. thought it was good. I thought it was better than the first time I heard it. All right, good. Because we were both enjoying some spring break festivities. And I do want to get into some spring break festivity stories and whatnot. But I got to tell you, there are some stuff that had surfaced in the early part of the week here in garage logic. And I thought, I have got to bring some of the stuff up that has surfaced with my guy, Mike Ferdinone. And you've been on a loop. You quite literally flew back home yesterday or the day before, whatever it was. I just got back. I haven't paid one bit of attention to Minneapolis. Which, as an aside, isn't that kind of nice?
1:27.5	It just unplugged. I don't like it. Really? I don't like it. I can't do it, Revers. Why? Because I just, I like a formulaic day, and I don't like just winging it. Just winging it on vacation. Okay. I don't like it. Okay. All right. I like Florida enough.
1:29.4	I saw Joe Maurer walking down past my place.
1:30.1	It was kind of cool.
1:27.5	I was like, that Okay. All right. I like Florida enough.
1:29.4	I saw Joe Mower walking down past my place.
1:30.1	It was kind of cool.
1:31.6	I was like, that's kind of cool. You suck.
1:32.3	More home runs.
1:33.2	Oh, wait, you're retired. I did not say that. Okay, I'm sorry. I love Joe. What am I talking about? What a great guy? So basically the theme has been these past couple of days is, what are we doing now?
1:45.5	What is, what are we doing now what what is what what are we
1:47.0	doing in minnesota the twin cities what's our next thing we want to do because as joe likes to say often is
1:51.8	that we're we're run with by adult adult children and um there's just so many things to get to
1:58.4	but one of them is we now have a bill that was introduced yesterday
2:07.3	and because this has worked so well in other states, most notably the state in New York,
2:14.1	the state of California, the state of Washington, and the state of Illinois.
2:19.1	Minnesota just said, you know what, let's join those fine states that are fiscally thriving.
2:24.9	And a wealth tax was introduced.
2:26.9	I think it was House File 4166.
2:30.7	I believe I'm willing to be corrected on that number.
	...

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