For as long as I can remember, restaurants have been my second home. I grew up in them. Later, I became an entrepreneur and was working remotely from restaurants more than a decade before COVID made remote work mainstream. To me, restaurants have never just been places to eat—they've been places to think, create, build businesses, meet clients, spark ideas, and connect with other people.

Today, America has more than 159~ million working people, including 34.3~ million who work remotely in some capacity, yet our tax code still reflects a world where nearly everyone worked from a traditional office. At the same time, 700,000+ restaurants across the country continue to battle rising food costs, labor shortages, inflation, and shrinking margins. We have two massive parts of our economy that could help each other in the BILLIONS, yet outdated tax policy keeps them apart.

The American workplace has changed, but our tax code has not. Millions of entrepreneurs, freelancers, consultants, creators, influencers, sales professionals, and remote employees now work outside traditional offices. Yet the tax code readily recognizes the cost of maintaining dedicated office space while offering limited recognition for professionals who choose to work productively from local restaurants and cafés. Currently in most cases you can only get up to a 50% deductible if you have an in-person or virtual meeting scheduled-- but what if you're truly just being productive working? Well current situation seems to be you get no deductible and it's treated in many cases as a personal expense despite the fact you used it in a way as a fractional office to be just as productive as an commercial office you would pay for and be able to deduct. Too often, remote workers spend their days isolated at home—working where they sleep, eating from the refrigerator or ordering delivery, interrupted by family members or roommates, and missing the human interaction that restaurants naturally provide. We are social by nature, and our communities are stronger when people gather, collaborate, and support local businesses.

The Laptop Brunch Act proposes creating a new "Work From Restaurant" tax category that recognizes certified business use of participating restaurants as legitimate remote workspaces, with appropriate safeguards such as documented work sessions, verified locations, and clear business-use requirements. This isn't about creating a loophole—it's about modernizing the tax code to reflect how millions of Americans actually work today.

Imagine the impact: millions of remote workers choosing to work from local restaurants instead of staying home, directing BILLIONS of dollars over time into Mom & Pop businesses but also larger businesses strengthening local economies, reducing isolation, and transforming the restaurant & hospitality industry into an essential part of America's remote-work infrastructure. This is a rare opportunity to create a true win-win—for workers, restaurants, local communities, and the future of work. It's time for our laws to catch up with the way America works today. Support the Laptop Brunch Act. Let's take it to congress!