The American restaurant industry, a perennial bellwether for the broader service economy, is approaching a critical juncture. As the sector looks toward 2026, new data and projections from the National Restaurant Association (NRA) suggest a complex landscape defined by localized hiring booms, persistent labor shortages, and a high-stakes political battle over immigration and wage structures. […]

In the opening decade of the 20th century, the American industrial machine was humming with unprecedented vigor. Yet, beneath the gears of progress lay a dark reality: the literal blood and bone of nearly two million children. While the Gilded Age had brought immense wealth to a select few, it had also institutionalized the exploitation […]

CHICAGO — The American restaurant industry, the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer, is facing a systemic crisis that transcends simple market fluctuations. At the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show in Chicago this week, a panel of industry leaders and policy experts delivered a sobering assessment of the current landscape: a collision of aggressive federal immigration enforcement, […]