Restaurant Task Force_Final

Restaurant Vitality Task Force — Draft Proposal Nicole and I are seeking Council's support to initiate and lead these conversations in alignment with the goals and strategies in this proposal.

Purpose Over the past few years, both restaurant owners and restaurant workers have shared significant economic pressure. Owners describe thin margins squeezed by rising input costs, commercial rents, and the local cost of doing business. Workers describe stagnant take-home pay, unpredictable hours, and a cost of living that has outpaced what the industry can currently offer. These are two sides of the same strained system, and prior conversations about the health of Boulder’s restaurant industry have not always included the full range of voices affected by it. A healthy restaurant industry depends on both a viable business model for owners and a livable, stable job for the people who do the work. If the current trajectory continues on either side, owners closing or cutting back, or workers unable to sustain themselves in these jobs, Boulder risks losing part of the vibrancy and diversity that restaurants add to our city’s downtown and neighborhood centers. This effort is meant to explore whether restaurant owners, workers, and other directly affected stakeholders can come together to better understand each other’s pressures and surface locally actionable ideas that have broad support.

What This Is (and Isn’t) We are proposing to start small and build trust before committing to a specific structure or outcome. If the group finds traction and feels ready, we’d like to be able to share any emerging ideas with Council ahead of the 2027 retreat, so that if such recommendations are of interest they could be considered in the context of 2027-2028 priority setting. In practice that means: •

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Starting informally. Early conversations should focus on relationship-building, shared understanding across owners and workers, and establishing group norms, not on drafting policy on day one. Growing gradually. If the initial group finds value in continuing, it can expand deliberately rather than starting with a large, formal roster. Not predetermining the answer. This is not a vehicle for any one predetermined solution. Its job is to help owners, workers, and other stakeholders identify potential solutions they would support, not for Council or staff to hand down a fix. Not a commitment of staff time, budget, or a formal workplan item. We’re asking Council’s blessing to initiate these conversations, not for resources of funding or staff time.

If the group coheres and finds common ground, it may choose to evolve toward a more structured effort capable of bringing jointly supported recommendations to Council, but

we don’t want to force that structure or related outcomes before the relationships and trust exist to support them.

Scope The conversations will be open-ended and focused on understanding the pressures facing both workers and owners and identifying where problem-solving interests overlap. Some of the economic pressures affecting owners and workers alike are outside local control (e.g., federal tariffs, inflation, interest rates). This effort isn’t intended to resolve those broader dynamics. The group can decide which locally-controllable issues feel most relevant to explore. For example, the City typically has authority over issues such as: • • • • • • • •

Local labor standards (e.g., wages) Taxes and fees Land use and zoning Economic development and business support Housing and transportation access Enforcement of workplace protections City programs that support economic stability State laws where Boulder has influence or advocacy roles

These categories are not intended to be a set of prescribed options, but as examples of areas where local action has impacts on business owners and workers. Part of the group’s job is to surface locally actionable ideas that have support from both workers and restaurant owners.

Stakeholders • • •

One or two independent restaurant owners/operators to start, growing over time One or two restaurant/hospitality workers or labor advocates to start, growing over time Other stakeholder groups could be brought in on a regular or ad hoc basis but any expansion of the group should be guided by the participants themselves and paced to maintain trust and a manageable size.

Timeline & Next Steps • • • •

Finalize this framing and share it with Council for awareness and support (Sept 3 Council Meeting) Begin outreach in the coming weeks to gauge interest from an initial, small, balanced group of owners and workers Convene an initial conversation, with subsequent conversations as noted above, dependent on interest Report back to Council on whether the group formed, how it’s going, and what, if anything, is emerging, with a summary before end of year rd

We welcome colleagues’ thoughts and support for a conversational, lower-commitment problem-solving approach that is grounded in locally controllable issues with a focus on building trust between restaurant owners and workers. We are hopeful that if we start small and build trust well, joint solutions to the challenges facing our local economy can emerge.