Matt Herridge and Grant Wharton, franchisees of Burger King in Belpre, sit down with U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, on Friday to discuss small business challenges. (Photo by Michèle Newbanks)

BELPRE – Small business issues were discussed on Friday as U.S. Representative Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, sat down with Burger King franchisees in Belpre.

Franchisees Matt Herridge and Grant Wharton described to Johnson some of the challenges they face as business owners.

“I’m talking to business owners and people like these two gentlemen, who are franchise owners, with all the challenges they have, not just with the availability of raw materials for their products that they sell to customers. , but the cost of those that increase because of inflation ”, Johnson said. “And the cost of utilities going up because of inflation.”

He said a big challenge is with the workforce.

“You can’t get people back to work because there is such an incentive at the federal level not to come back to work” Johnson said. “So there are a lot of very real challenges. “

He said small businesses in the United States create more than 60 percent of jobs.

“Previously, a franchise like Burger King was where high school kids got their start,” he said. “This is where they learn life skills to go to college and get into manufacturing or engineering. “

He noted that his first public job, other than the US Air Force, was in a Pizza Hut.

Johnson’s visit was part of a “DC to BK” program.

“We’re having a national event this week where we’ve asked representatives from across the country to come to their local Burger King restaurant and talk with us about some of the challenges small businesses face,” Herridge said. “I’m currently chair of the government relations committee for Burger King and we have a group of 12 members of our committee that we’ve kind of put together.”

He said they called local representatives and asked them to meet.

“Congressman Johnson was kind enough to do it,” he said.

They met at Belpre Burger King because it is the new franchisee restaurant.

“It’s really our investment in the community. We thought it would be a good stop ”, Herridge said.

Johnson said they know both sides of inflation. He explained that inflation comes from two sources.

“You have the supply side of inflation. When you have disrupted supply chains, like we have under COVID, you can’t have products shipped, ” Johnson said. “Then you have the demand side of inflation, where you have a high demand for a particular commodity because that’s what everyone wants.”

He said that the fast food industry in America is “Motherhood and apple pie in this country”.

“People are busy with families and so there is a high demand, yet businesses are struggling because of the supply chain problem to meet that demand,” he said. “So you have this inflation collision and it’s getting tough and it’s going to get worse.”

Michele Newbanks can be contacted at [email protected]

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