4 steps to get better laws for your biz

This week we're wrapping up our hospitality advocacy interview series with Someday Bar's Megan Rickerson.

So far we've covered Megan's background, how Covid led her to getting involved in advocacy, and how doing so led to some very real improvements for her and the entire NYC hospitality industry.

One of the major take homes from last week's subject matter was you just need to take the first step to get started, after which you'll be moving downhill. That's exactly where we're picking up the conversation this week: how do you get started in hospitality advocacy?

Here's advice from Megan on that front:

• The first step is to figure out who your local reps are. Who is your city council person? Do you already know? If not, look it up online. It'll only take a minute.
• Next, track down their contact info. Email address at minimum. This'll be available online. Save it in your contacts.
  
• If you're not ready to contact them yet, still save their info, since it'll be that much easier to do when the time comes. It's like going to the gym—if you've already got your workout bag packed and in the car, it's a lot easier to go.
• Finally, reach out to your reps, even if you don't have anything to contact them about yet. You'll be meeting this person sometime, so might as well get the ball rolling. Of course, if there is something pressing, bring it up!

Megan also discusses her strategy on how to get a lot of people involved—specifically, if you want to spread the word about something, create images and posts that folks can easily be re-share, re-post, or regurgitate.

Everybody's got low bandwidth, so if you make it easy and quick to get involved, they're more likely to do so.

❓ Why?

Because prospective customers often check out your website to decide whether or not to come in.

They'll click the "see website" link on their maps app, they'll click the link in your social media bio, or maybe they'll just run a google search for "bars near me."

Regardless, they're getting to your website, and if all they see on your website drink menu is "we have specialty cocktails and craft beer," it's easy for those folks to say "uh, no thanks."

And to be clear: you should keep all your menus—including your rotating beer list—up-to-date on your website.

Even if just a couple people each month are drawn into your place because you're website menu hygiene is on-point, that's totally worth it.

❓ How to do it?

Manually is an option, though it can be tough to actually stay on top of it.

• Yelp is adding an AI feature to generate summary descriptions of restaurants. Eater doesn't think it's going to make Yelp better. I agree.
• NYC is considering a change to how workers get tipped, wherein staff would get paid at least the minimum wage ($16) by their employers. This would be a departure from the current model, which allows wait staff to be paid $10.65, so long as tips received pull the total wage above that $16 threshold.
• There's a lawsuit pending against Southern Glazer's, a company that gets the biggest liquor brands (think Smirnoff) into grocery stores nationwide. If the lawsuit proceeds, it's possible it could lead to a big hiccup in the liquor industry.
• Alcohol has been banned in Saudi Arabia since 1952, but a liquor store recently opened up, fueling speculation of a broader relaxation of liquor laws there.