Armed with new data showing that restaurants and bars accounted for 60 percent of the U.S. jobs lost in March, representatives of the Independent Restaurant Coalition renewed their call to Congress for more, and better, federal assistance for the industry’s 11 million workers.
In a conference call Thursday afternoon, the coalition reiterated that the recently passed CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program fail to meet the unique needs of independent restaurants — many of whom, the group said, risk permanent closure.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced that the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program had run out of money, and wouldn’t be accepting more applications, essentially shutting small restaurants out of the program.
Citing what she termed “sobering” numbers, James Beard Foundation CEO Claire Reichenbach quoted a JBF survey of more than 1,400 restaurant owners, conducted in April.
“Only one in five owners are certain that they can sustain themselves until normal operations resume,” she said. “More than 55 percent have taken on new debt obligations.”
That shaken confidence, along with U.S. Department of Labor statistics saying that about 60% of jobs lost in March were from restaurants and bars, underscores the need for immediate government action, the IRC representatives said…
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