For Eric Shin, the path to becoming a restaurateur didn’t start in a kitchen, it started with a pair of drumsticks.

While most people only know him as the founder and CEO of SeoulSpice Korean Kitchen—with 10 locations across the country and counting—he also moonlights as the principal percussionist for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC.

As the child of Korean immigrants who also ran a Korean eatery, Shin’s ascent into the food business may seem natural but it wasn’t always that straightforward. In fact, growing up, he aspired to emulate the aspirations of his dad, who wanted to be a software engineer.

“I was obsessed with computers, video games, and oddly enough, sports; my dad really wanted me to fit into Western culture,” he told Retail Brew. “He had me playing baseball, football. I was into skateboarding—just a little potpourri of everything Americana.”

Fast forward to high school, and he said he was already running a web design business while also “getting into classical music and jazz.”

“I figured, since I already had my company in high school, I didn’t need to go to college to study computer science,” he said. Instead, he went to Julliard.

But somewhere between music school and his tenure at the National Symphony Orchestra, Shin’s entrepreneurial streak resurfaced—this time in the form of SeoulSpice Korean Kitchen, which opened its first location in 2016.

Keep reading here.—JS

A federal appeals court has overturned Regulation II, a Federal Reserve rule capping the amount banks can charge merchants for processing debit card transactions. While this kind of “swipe fee” rule could theoretically benefit retailers, the ruling actually favors merchants, who argued the rule was setting rates too high.

The regulation originated with the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which mandated that interchange fees “be reasonable and proportional to the cost incurred by the issuer” with respect to the transaction. At issue in the lawsuit was the formula the Fed came up with to meet this standard.

According to the plaintiff, a North Dakota convenience store and truck stop called Corner Post, the Fed created a “one-size-fits-all” standard rather than one tailored to specific issuers and transactions.

Keep reading here.—AV

Tariffs are making a huge dent in US consumers’ budgets—$12.2 billion worth, to be exact, a new survey found.

Per Omnisend’s latest research that included responses from 1,200 US adults, Americans are now spending about $47 extra per person on a monthly basis.

• Meanwhile, 1 in 7 shoppers is spending $100 or more per month.

“You won’t see a ‘tariff’ line at checkout—you feel it in the grocery total, the back-to-school cart, and the small online orders that now cost a bit more to bring to your door,” Marty Bauer, e-commerce expert at Omnisend, said in a statement. “For most families, it just means less breathing room at the end of the month.”

Of course, there are some areas where consumers are feeling the pinch more than others.

• 66% of those surveyed noted they’ve seen prices shoot up since the tariffs, particularly when it comes to retailers such as Amazon (34%), Temu (30%), and Walmart (27%).

Keep reading here.—JS