While the House prepares to vote Friday on a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, black business leaders fear they’ll be overlooked entirely, per usual. Politico called the bailout the "biggest economic stimulus in American history,” but Sen. Bernie Sanders has his doubts about the plan, the news website reported. He argued there just aren't enough limits on the business relief. "With half of our people living paycheck to paycheck, these workers and their families worry about what will happen to them when those paychecks stop coming in," Sanders said.
The popular Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem was forced to temporarily close their doors March 16 amid the pandemic, which has grown to include more than 37,200 cases in New York alone. "We will pay all employees through the week and will work with state and local officials should circumstances dictate,” the company said in a message on its website. “Additionally, some of our locally based culinary staff have opted to work through the week under additional COVID-19 specific safety measures to prepare our existing food stocks for Harlem food kitchens and local social services providers."
Marcus Samuelsson, owner of the business and industry expert, told MSNBC that his company employs about 180 people. The restaurant industry as a whole employs more than 15 million workers. "Our community is in a huge crisis. This is the toughest thing that we've ever dealt with," Samuelsson said. He advocated for a bailout that includes small businesses and said it “has to reach the restaurant community, the workers, the small businesses and not just big businesses. Just as much as people live paycheck to paycheck, so does small businesses, so does restaurants," Samuelsson said. "And we need this bailout to really reach the cooks, the dishwasher, the servers, the bartenders."
Marc Lamont Hill, an activist and television personality, announced Sunday that the virus forced his business, a Philadelphia bookstore dubbed Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books, to close temporarily. “We’ve started a GoFundMe to raise funds for supporting our staff and paying bills,” the owner tweeted Sunday. The company raised $15,221 of a $25,000 fundraising goal by Thursday afternoon. “Our amazing staff is unable to earn income, and we’re set to lose more than half our projected sales for March so we are unable to pay our bills,” fundraising organizer Justin Moore said on the business’ GoFundMe page. “However, throughout all of the madness, we have received so much love and it’s great to know that so many people have our back. “
Black-owned businesses definitely aren’t the only companies feeling the economic effects of widespread coronavirus quarantines. Experts predict the pandemic will spark a national recession, with the chances of such a happening in the next year at 75%, according to Forbes magazine. Even massive chain restaurants are adapting in preparation for rainier days. Starbucks closed its cafes March 20 and only kept open drive-thru and delivery services, according to the company’s website. McDonald’s is focusing on take-out, delivery, and drive-thru services, and still other companies have shut down altogether, CNN Business reported.
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“Major casual dining chains, like Olive Garden, IHOP and Chili's, are better equipped to weather the storm than mom-and-pop chains or independent fine-dining restaurants," CNN Business reported. R.J. Hottovy, a consumer strategist at Morningstar, told CNN that constraints on casual dining, which is "all about the experience," are "a major shock to the system" for smaller restaurants. "Most of the bigger players will find a way to survive, (but) it’s not going to be easy," Hottovy told the news network.
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Darden Restaurants, the umbrella company for LongHorn Steakhouse, Olive Garden, and other restaurants, reported that sales at some restaurants dropped 60% when compared to the same time period last year, according to CNN. Some casual dining businesses, such as the company that owns Chili's and Maggiano's Little Italy, have reached out to government representatives for help.
"We're just wanting to make sure, as state and federal officers think about relief and support, that they understand that it's not all the small business model or the franchise model," Brinker International CEO Wyman Roberts told CNN. "There are significant companies out there that own restaurants, that support large employee bases that are critical to the economy that are going to need to be considered, as well."
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