According to the department, the Small Business Administration will begin accepting applications on 3 May for a $29-billion grant program. The grant is the first government pandemic assistance solely for restaurants, bars and other food services enterprises, formally known as the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The Pandemic is a major source of assistance to an industry which suffered a pandemic, and has been approved by Congress in its $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill, which became law last month.
According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurants and bars posted revenue of 659 billion dollars last year, down about one quarter from 2019. According to trade association figures, more than 110,000 restaurants and bars were closed at least temporarily.
Small businessmen had an early, street-level view of the future long before countries and cities began to crack down on indoor dining last March: vacant dinning rooms; decreasing revenue; mounting debts; laying off workers; and ultimately closing down. Colicchio suggested a year ago that 75 percent of the US restaurant could be history without political interference. The early estimates were ugly. People began talking about a “extinction case” in restaurants, particularly among mothers and sisters without access to bank loans or capital investment.
Between independent restaurateur survival instincts kicked in. Some felt like their investment and companies just froze up and died couldn’t sit around watching. Their survival was to play a part. Unpaid, and driven solely by a 20-member consultative council and advisors, the IRC offered a means for many to move up in what is potentially their hardest corporate life and become their own advocates.
The IRC did not act alone on the specific relief of restaurants. The NRA also worked on the problem from the outset. On 18 March, the NRA sent an appeal for the development of $145 billion in restaurant and food services industries to the White House and the leaders of Congress. However, the association also devoted itself to other urgent problems: government supported insurance for business interruptions, immigration reform, tax credit, tip loans, pay rises and other matters.
