CHICAGO, July 8, 2025 — Summer is one of the busiest seasons for food-away-from-home businesses, with operators often so focused on sales that they miss key developments occurring around them. Here are a few of the under-the-radar news items that shouldn’t escape attention.
NY law threatens to hamper a major loyalty-program benefit
Food-away-from-home businesses that extend discounts in New York to members of their loyalty programs can now be fined up to $1,000 each time they fail to explain why the customer is getting a price break.
Under a law that took effect Tuesday, businesses in the state are required to alert a customer when they pay a lower price because of information that’s been gathered about them, a key aim of affinity programs. The patron has to be informed, presumably when the order is being placed, via this heads-up: “THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.”
The aim is to alert the public that personal information about them is being collected by merchants.
The provision also explains to patrons why one of them might be paying more for an item than someone right ahead of them in line.
The warning does not have to be aired if the customer is paying less because they’re enrolled in a subscription program offered by the merchant, like the ones used by a number of coffee cafes to speed service and foster loyalty.
The initiative has drawn fire from retailers, who argue that the collection of data about a customer enables an establishment to better serve patrons by tailoring services to their individual preferences. They also contend that any break on price is a benefit to the guest, not a penalization to others.
The National Retail Federation filed a lawsuit last week in hopes of blocking enforcement of the measure.
“Algorithms are created by humans, not computers, and they are an extension of what retailers have done for decades, if not centuries, to use what they know about their customers to serve them better,” NRF Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel Stephanie Martz said in a prepared statement. “It’s just done at the scale of the modern economy.”
A second provision of the bill will require businesses to alert members of the public when they’re dealing with a bot rather than a human. That requirement does not take effect until November 5.
Lids have to be provided for bar drinks in California
More than 2,500 bars in California are now required to have lids available upon request to protect customers from having their drinks spiked.
The mandate applies to establishments holding a Type 48 license, which allows them to sell beer, wine, and spirits despite little or no food being offered.
The places can charge extra for the lids, which need to be applied upon request for beverages served to go as well as for on-site consumption.
New York City could get into the grocery business
The odds-on favorite to win New York City’s mayoral election on Nov. 4 has proposed piloting a test of government-run food stores for underprivileged residents.
Zohran Mamdani, a self-avowed socialist who won the Democratic Party’s mayoral primary on June 30, has pledged to open at least one of the food outlets in each of the city’s five boroughs. The places would feature groceries and other household items at prices lower than what shoppers would find in private-sector stores.
The stated aim is to provide relief to food-insecure residents. Proponents say the lower prices charged by the outlets will put pressure on commercial establishments to keep their prices in check.
The proposal has already drawn fire from an association of bodegas, the Big Apple's version of independent convenience stores.
Longtime Monical’s Pizza leader Harry Bond dies at 73
Three decades ago, it was unusual to attend a restaurant-industry event and not see Harry Bond listed on the program as a speaker.
The trade was in the early throes of the labor shortage that still stymies it today, and the longtime leader of Monical’s Pizza had developed what was then a radical strategy for addressing the problem. Bond theorized that the best way to attract and retain good employees was to treat them as being as important as customers. As proof, he would point to the standout success of Monical’s, a small Midwestern chain that more than held its own against national heavyweights like Pizza Hut and Dominos.
The notion is accepted gospel today, but it was a jaw-dropper of an employment strategy back then. And Bond was a tireless advocate of it, airing the theory whenever he could in hopes of changing the industry’s image as an abysmal place to work.
Bond died July 1 at age 73, still serving as Monical’s chairman. As one store said via its exterior billboard sign, “We will miss you, Harry.”
As Managing Editor for IFMA The Food Away from Home Association, Romeo is responsible for generating the group's news and feature content. He brings more than 40 years of experience in covering restaurants to the position.
Cover image courtesy: Closed Loop Project