Tips for Mixing Business with Politics
Business and politics can be a dangerous mix, especially with the United States's political climate. Business owners can face public outrage, or even boycotts, whether they speak on a political issue or stay silent; however, legislation affects health code regulations along with many other matters that directly impact restaurants. Below, we'll go over how to get involved with your community and local trade associations to help you positively influence politics for your business.
Tips from TNHTA's Greg Adkins
Greg Adkins is former President and CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association (TNHTA), an advocacy and education group that works on behalf of Tennessee's hospitality and tourism industry.1 Most states and even many towns and cities have similar organizations that offer resources to learn more about your local hospitality industry. It's also a way for businesses to cohere to and lobby for pro-business legislation on a larger scale.
"We do things like local PACs, and we give to local candidates," says Adkins. "PACs are political action committees that are legally allowed to give money to candidates that support our causes. What we try to do is find small business candidates, ideally small business owners. We try to find those types of folks to run for office, and then we assist them. We have a local election toolkit, and we talk about how to run."
The money, time, and organization required to do these things are hard to come by as a small business, but banding together with a trade association lets businesses combine resources to unlock more options.
"The issue is, it's really hard to do something as just one restaurant, one individual," Adkins explains. "Over the years, we've found that if we speak with a voice with all the restaurants and all the hotels in the community, it's a much stronger voice. So, the first step is to get involved with their local trade association, which (for Tennessee) is the hospitality association that includes restaurants and hotels. There's already a network of like-minded individuals that have the same issues. Restaurateurs and hoteliers are very, very busy. They don't have the time to devote five hours a day to a cause, and that's why the local and state associations make it easy for them to participate."
An additional benefit of working within a network of local businesses is that news of new legislation can get around quickly, along with suggestions on how to act.
"If there's bad legislation, anti-business legislation or ordinances, we'll communicate to all those businesses," says Adkins.
While federal policies can certainly impact your business, changes to local regulations will have an immediate effect on your establishment. But in local situations, you could influence what regulations are adopted. Local councils and committees vote on these ordinances in public sessions, so having your community invested in your success can be beneficial for your business.
When you make your business valuable to your local community, it increases the likelihood of locals protecting your establishment's interests. Some of the community outreach options you might consider are:
- Workforce re-entry programs for veterans, homeless, and ex-offenders provide valuable services to the community and help you find workers who are often dedicated and skilled. These development programs help mitigate unemployment and homelessness rates in communities.
- Provide sponsorships, donate goods, or offer a gathering space for charitable organizations. Sponsorships and donations associate your business's name with positive organizations and can add to your local reputation.
- Schedule a meeting with local politicians to introduce yourself and discuss regulation-related problems your business has or upcoming votes and how they might affect your operation.
- Develop a personal relationship with legislators and other politicians. These relationships are useful when a regulation is proposed that could affect your operation. By being the face of your business, legislators will see your restaurant as a member of the community rather than just a hurdle to passing new laws.
- Attend town hall events. This lets you make your voice heard and ensures you are seen by your fellow citizens – many of whom may be customers – as being an active participant in the community.
"We do calls to action; we call it grasstops and grassroots advocacy. Just participating in calls to action and writing their city councilmen or state legislators is an important thing."
Adkins also pointed out just how many regulatory agencies and laws are in place specifically for the restaurant industry, and how each one can make or break a business when discussing the importance of becoming politically active.
"Our industry is very, very regulated by federal government, state government, local government. We're probably one of the most regulated industries out there – (there's) at least a dozen agencies, between the health department, department of justice, ADA compliance, liquor licenses, beer board, fire marshal, department of labor, department of revenue – and that's hard for a small business."
Adkins believes those regulations make working together to speak up important.
"If you're not at the table, you're going to be on the menu. If you participate in your trade association with like-minded people, you can exchange information and educate each other about issues. It's hard to move the needle with one person or one business, but if every single business in the community, every single restauranteur says, ‘Hey, this is a problem,’ politicians start to look and listen."
This interview was originally published in May 2017. Greg Adkins is now the President and CEO of the Beverage Association of Tennessee.2
References
- Tennessee Hospitality. HospitalityTN. Accessed June 2022.
- Contact Us. Beverage Association of Tennessee. Accessed June 2022.