Advocacy

The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington has represented the region's foodservice industry since 1920 — through Prohibition, the Depression, and a pandemic that closed dining rooms across the country. Today we speak for more than 1,500 members: independent operators and restaurant groups, bars and bakeries, local manufacturers, distributors, and the service providers who keep them running.

What We Do

Advocacy at RAMW means showing up:

• Direct engagement with lawmakers. We meet with councilmembers, county officials, and their staff before bills are drafted — when the details are still negotiable.
• Coalition building. We partner with other industry associations, stakeholders, and community organizations where interests align. We are stronger together.
• Member intelligence. We translate what's happening in the Wilson Building and county councils into plain guidance on what it means for your business, and we carry operators' experience back to the people writing the rules.
• Testimony and formal comment. We file written and oral testimony before the Council of the District of Columbia and submit comments in regulatory proceedings, grounded in operator data and independent analysis.
• Agency and regulatory work. Much of what determines whether a restaurant can open, expand, or stay open is decided by agencies, not legislatures. We work with ABCA, DOB, DDOT, DOH, and DOES on permitting, licensing, inspections, and enforcement.

Where We Work

Our members operate across the District, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, and Northern Virginia, and our advocacy follows them — including on Capitol Hill, where Congress retains authority over District affairs.

Why it Matters

The hospitality industry is one the region's largest private employers. Restaurants are also the region's most common first job, its most accessible path into small business ownership, and — on most blocks — a cornerstone of neighborhood life. Policies that raises the cost of operating a restaurant could cause valued, local establishments to close.

How we Work with Policymakers

We come to the table with data, operator testimony, and specific alternatives — not just opposition. When we disagree with a proposal, we say what we'd support instead. When legislation gets the substance right, we say that too. That record is why our members' experience gets weight in rooms where it otherwise wouldn't.

Get Involved

Members shape our positions. Join a committee, submit testimony alongside us, host your councilmember for a visit, or tell us what a pending bill would mean for your operation. Contact Che Ruddell-Tabisola, the Managing Director and Vice President of Government Affairs at RAMW, for more information: che@ramw.org.