NEW ORLEANS — Senate leaders announced they reached an agreement on a nearly $500 billion bill to replenish the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
The program, designed to help ailing businesses stay afloat during this Coronavirus outbreak, ran out of money last week.
As the PPP gets an infusion of cash, restaurant owners are asking Congress to adjust some of the rules, now keeping many of them from participating in the program.
The SBA loan becomes of forgivable grant, if recipients can to get back to pre-crisis staffing levels by June 30.
Drago’s Seafood Restaurant owner Tommy Cvitanovich maintains that’s a tall order when you consider social distancing measures could be in place until this time next year.
“Social distancing is going to require that my table space gets cut in half, roughly,” Cvitanovich said. “I’m going to need roughly half the employees to handle that. They need to take that into consideration.”
Joe Impastato, owner of Impastato’s Restaurant in Metairie wants Congress to extend or waive the PPP’s staffing requirements for restaurants.
“How you pay all those people,” Impastato asked. “How do you keep all those people on the payroll when you’re going to do maybe one-third of the business.
Cvitanovich said it makes more sense for the staffing clause to apply when restaurants are allowed to fully reopen.
He added until that happens, many restaurants won’t be able to take advantage of the PPP which means some of them will likely go out of business.
"You have to be back at your same staffing levels that you had before which is virtually impossible,” Cvitanovich said.
Restaurant owners admit they’re not sure what the future holds for them or their fellow restaurateurs. But they suspect the restaurant scene as we knew it in Greater New Orleans could look a lot different when this pandemic finally clears.
“We’re hurting bad,” Impastato said. “We need more revenue to help us survive if we’re going to stay in business.”
“I can tell you we’re suffering and we’re struggling,” Cvitanovich said. “If we’re struggling, I guarantee you the smaller restaurants, they’re struggling even more. Yes, when you’re struggling, it’s difficult to come back.”
The National Restaurant Association told Congress more than 60 percent of restaurant owners believe existing assistance programs, including the PPP, won’t keep their employees on payroll.
The organization asked for $240 billion in aid just for the restaurant industry.
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