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While that of President Trump meet restaurant industry executives at the White House Landry CEO Tilman Fertitta on Monday urged the president to offer more help through the paycheck protection program to large restaurant chains affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Fertitta told the president the coronavirus had been “devastating” to his business, leading to the layoff of 40,000 employees at his full-service restaurant chain in March. He asked if the administration would consider adding “a category for larger private restaurateurs” that would put the funding “in a different bucket” so that large restaurant chains do not take PPP money out of trouble. small enterprises.
“I don’t have the capacity to put those 40,000 people back to work,” Fertitta said. “So I just wish that, don’t add money, just divide it.”
STRUGGLE RESTAURANTS WITH RENT UNDER CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS IN NEW YORK CITY
Tilman Fertitta, President and CEO of Landry’s Inc., speaks during a meeting with restaurant industry executives on the coronavirus response, in the White House State Dining Room, on Monday, May 18, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
The billionaire admitted that he recently borrowed $ 300 million at 12% interest from the PPP because he “needed cash to keep the business afloat”, but decided to return the money, saying he had been criticized for the layoffs, but was worried. he would be seen as “this billionaire who took the money from the small business.”
“I took the money and sent it back,” he said. “And didn’t spend a dollar of it.”
RESTAURANTS INCREASE PRICES BECAUSE CORONAVIRUS FORCES A SHORTAGE OF MEAT
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said it was a “complicated problem” and that while sympathetic, the Paycheck Protection Program is “for businesses that aren’t necessarily as large “.
But Trump, who called Fertitta a longtime friend, said he had a “unique situation” and the administration would look into it.
“If he had 600 owners and he franchised them or something, but he had 600, they qualify. If he has, you know, if he owns it, that ‘ is a different situation, ”Trump said. “I can understand what he’s saying. So let’s take a look.”
Landry’s, which operates well-known restaurants like Del Frisco’s, Rainforest Cafe, and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., has 600 restaurants in 40 states.
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The news comes the same day restaurant executives asked the administration to change the paycheck protection program rules so they have more time to spend their loan money on rehiring employees.
Under the plan’s current rules, loans are canceled as long as borrowers have spent 75% of the payroll within eight weeks of getting the money and only 25% of the loan can be spent on rent, mortgage interest and utilities. The leaders are asking the White House and Congress to extend the period to at least 24 weeks.
“If these changes are made, it will be the thing,” said Will Guidara of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the restaurateur behind Eleven Madison Park in New York City. “We have to build the house first.”
The restaurant industry expects to lose $ 80 billion in sales by the end of April and up to $ 240 billion by the end of 2020 and 61% of operators say existing federal aid won’t prevent more restaurant layoffs, says recent survey by the National Restaurant Association.
