Peter Schorsch
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski took to CNBC earlier this month to complain that President Donald Trump’s “no tax on tips” policy isn’t very fair.
“The issue with no tax on tips is it only benefited those restaurants that have tips,” he said.
Sounding as salty as one of his fast food chain’s french fries, Kempczinski clearly didn’t get the memo that another higher up at McDonald’s disagreed.
Jon Banner, McDonald’s Executive Vice President and Global Chief Impact Officer, later posted on X that “McDonald’s supports the tax policies in the Big Beautiful Bill that enable small businesses to win and supports the President’s No Tax on Tips policy,” he wrote, adding that “contrary info is fake news.”
But it turns out Kempczinski wasn’t lovin’ it, and supersized his frustration by leaving the National Restaurant Association over it, at least in part. (Listen to more on that here.)
I haven’t spoken to either Kempczinski or Banner, but from the looks of it, Banner started with some Trump McLovin’ despite Trump’s tax on tips policy creating a more desirable job market for competitors who do allow their employees to accept tips.
Nevertheless, the whining goes over about as well as McDonald’s perpetually broken soft serve machines. And for what?
As the saying goes, never look a gift horse in the mouth, but here Kempczinski is gaping directly into it.
Love him or hate him, Charlie Kirk perhaps called it out best.
“President Trump has single-handedly given McDonald’s more free PR than the company has received throughout the rest of its entire history. Just say thank you,” he wrote on X in response to Kempczinski’s quarter-pounder-sized beef with the President’s “no tax on tips” policy.
It’s true.
He even worked a shift there during his most recent presidential campaign, which drew all of the headlines.
And remember that time Trump hosted the Clemson Tigers at the White House to celebrate their NCAA football championship? It was the butt of a lot of jokes, but Trump served a giant helping of fast food to the visiting players, including trays upon fancy trays of McDonald’s favorites, and then went on and on about how it was probably their favorite. Sure, there was some fare from others, such as Wendy’s and Burger King, but McDonald’s was the most prominent.
Ka-ching!
And why would Mickey D’s not be front and center at Trump’s heart attack White House cafe? It is, after all, his favorite. While the President’s reasons for preferring the Golden arches aren’t exactly related to its culinary offerings — he thinks it’s safer since it’s pre-made, and for whatever reason, he thinks chains like McDonald’s have higher standards for food safety — it is nevertheless the biggest endorsement any dining establishment can land.
A clever 7-year-old, if they were to catch wind of the President’s infatuation with fatty foods, might give an unsuspecting parent a run for their money. “What do you mean I can’t eat at McDonald’s? The President does!”
To be clear, the “no tax on tips” conundrum for places like McDonald’s does offer an advantage to its tip-accepting competitors — where can you go these days without being asked if you want to leave a tip? However, the solution might be to start taking tips.
Or Kempczinski could just offer a side of cries with that, which apparently he’s done.
But it’s a pretty crummy look for a company that supported something it thought would be a boon, only to turn around and blast its most prolific customer.
And what’s that saying?
“The customer is always right.”
