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The entire restaurant industry has lost two-thirds of its workforce, more than eight million employees, as a result of COVID-19 closures, according to a new national survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association and included in a new industry recovery plan sent to Congress today.
Its survey reported that more than 60 percent of restaurant owners say that existing federal relief programs—including the CARES Act—will not enable them to keep their employees on payroll during the downturn. The Association’s survey of 6,500 restaurants nationwide, noted that restaurants lost $30 billion in March, were on track to lose $50 billion in April, as well as a COVID-19-related loss of more than $240 billion nationwide by the end of the year.
The Association has called on Congress to enact a new Blueprint for Recovery to provide targeted relief for the second largest private sector employer, an industry that is larger than airlines, railroads, ground transportation and spectator sports combined, and that has in the past been one of the slowest to bounce back from downturns.
- Authorize and Appropriate a Temporary Emergency $240 Billion Restaurant and Foodservice Industry Recovery Fund (“RFIRF”)
- Replenish Funding and Fix the Structural Issues of the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”)
- Create a Tax Credit or Grant Program for “Healthy Restaurants”
- Provide Federal Relief for Employer’s Share of Unemployment Insurance
- Enact the “SNAP COVID-19 Anti-Hunger Restaurant Relief for You Act of 2020” (SNAP CARRY Act) Proposal
- Increase Funding for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs)
Click here to read an overview of the Blueprint for Recovery.