When the world’s best chefs aren’t Instagramming their home-cooked meals while under quarantine, they remain focused on serving up awareness about the doomed state of the restaurant industry as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Every day, the social media campaign to #SaveRestaurants is alerting patrons that their beloved local eateries could be gone forever as a result of this outbreak. Chef JJ Johnson, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving and Forbes have announced support for Help Our Neighborhood Restaurants (HONoR), which focuses on independently owned eateries in New York. But that grassroots activism on top of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package will not be enough.

“I expect 70% of restaurants will close as a result of this,” says Tom Colicchio, founder of Crafted Hospitality and host of Bravo’s Top Chef.









While President Trump finally signed the expansive Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act on Friday, Colicchio says the bill is not adequately designed to save America’s restaurants and the jobs of millions of workers. A key section titled the Paycheck Protection Program has set aside more than $300 billion in aid to small businesses. It allows for owners of companies with less than 500 employees to apply for a maximum loan of $10 million or two and a half months’ worth of payroll (whichever totals less). The loans can be converted into grants if business owners appropriately use the funding to cover payroll costs.





Before coronavirus, Chef Colicchio has long played a role in advocating for the restaurant industry and supply chain businesses, including farmers. Here he meets with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2017 about a farm bill. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Food Policy Action Education Fund

“This is a good start, but we need more,” the 57-year-old chef tells Forbes. “I don’t believe our businesses will be anywhere near fully operational in two and a half months.” He predicts that social distancing mandates will still be in place by then, forcing restaurants to operate at 50% occupancy levels—an unviable model for businesses that rely on slim profit margins. "We still have a long way to go. No one knows how long this is going to last, and while a regular office or store can easily reopen and practice social distancing, that can’t happen in restaurants. So for us, it’s going to be a little different.”

The celebrity chef has quickly become a visible vocal member of the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) and wants to keep the pressure on Congress to do more for America’s hospitality industry. Five hundred local restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs across the country, as well as nonprofits like Food Policy Action and the James Beard Foundation, formed the coalition this month to save local restaurants affected by COVID-19.

“We were the first industry to completely shut down,” says Colicchio. “When I told my staff we were going to close, no one whined, no one complained.” His Crafted Hospitality has laid off 300 people across its seven locations in New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.









Colicchio says the coalition is now fighting for additional funding beyond the two and a half month time frame outlined in the stimulus package. With the U.S. restaurant industry generating roughly $880 billion in revenue per year, the IRC is urging Congress to deliver a six-month “income-replacement program” valued at $440 billion to save the restaurant industry from complete collapse.

“If I hire everyone back now and then we’re not back in two and a half months, then I’m out—I’m out of money,” says Colicchio. “I'd like to know whether I have five or six months to rehire my original staff.” He says it’s critical that restaurateurs like him have the funds to welcome back original staff in order to avoid lengthy training periods, which will cause further delays in getting back to business. He adds that the current measure from Washington is a vital temporary lifeline, but the coalition is now focused on ensuring that the next wave of legislation includes the $440 billion package that directly supports independent restaurants and takes into account the individual reopening time lines of each state.









Chef Tom Colicchio greeting patrons, long before the coronavirus outbreak forced him to shut down all seven Crafted Hospitality locations. Crafted Hospitality

President Trump agrees that the industry is in trouble. “You’re going to lose all these restaurants, and they're not going to make it back. They have to get going,” Trump said in a White House press conference on Sunday. “Some are closing right now. Despite the fact that they could be open in the not too distant future. We expect that. But there are some that aren't going to be able to get open.”

The president announced at the briefing that he will ask his administration to explore the reversal of a 2017 tax cut law provision that could lead to incentives for corporations spending on restaurant meals.

“I can’t expect members of Congress to stop the bleeding right away,” says Colicchio. “But we want to work with them to understand the intricacies of our industry to create stimulus 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0. That’s where IRC comes in. We can sit down with the members and walk through to craft a bill that is more responsive.”





“We typically don’t have a voice at the table,” Colicchio says about a restaurant bailout, “but there are many of us and we employ so many.”





In addition to launching social media campaigns such as #TooSmallToFail, the IRC movement’s leaders—including food personalities Andrew Zimmern, Naomi Pomeroy and Andrew Carmellini—have hired lobbyists to fight for their industry in Washington. According to Colicchio, the coalition formed just a week ago, as Congress was already debating the legislation. The IRC stepped in as the vote drew nearer to make sure the legislation would provide “immediate relief” to the industry.

“It took a little time to make that pivot and to realize we need a government stimulus package to help us, especially independent restaurants,” says Colicchio. “We typically don’t have a voice at the table, but there are many of us and we employ so many.”









Renowned chef and ‘Top Chef’ Head Judge Tom Colicchio celebrating a partnership with The Jersey Tomato Co. at his restaurant Little River in New York City on February 25, 2020, just weeks before having to shut down. Michael Simon/Startraksphoto.com

According to the Independent Restaurant Coalition, the sector directly employs more than 11 million nationally, not counting the hundreds of millions who work along the food supply chain and food delivery services.

“This is why we need extended protection,” says Colicchio. “It’s important we hire back our staff, pay our bills and of course take care of our suppliers, who are fishermen, farmers and liquor distributors, and let that capital flow to our adjacent businesses.”

It’s clear the industry is already in free fall, starting with the restaurant mecca of New York City. According to survey results released last week from the NYC Hospitality Alliance, nearly 2,000 owners and operators of restaurants, bars and lounges have laid off or furloughed 67,650 employees since March 20, 2020, when the executive order mandating nonessential businesses to close (while still allowing restaurants and bars to provide delivery or takeout).

Meanwhile, nationwide, up to 7 million workers across the country could lose their jobs by June, according to the National Restaurant Association.

While Colicchio says the CARES Act is a great first step in providing much-needed solace to the industry, he fears that without a more flexible plan, panic will continue to overwhelm employers and employees alike. Desperate owners will rush back to work and force curb takeout and delivery services (a practice he says is barely eking returns for small establishments), while those laid off will vie for new gig jobs. “If my workers have peace of mind they won’t go out looking for side hustles wherever they can,” he says. “We want everyone to stay home and flatten the curve.”





Chef Tom Colicchio in the kitchen at Craft. The ‘Top Chef’ host had to lay off roughly 300 workers as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Crafted Hospitality

Colicchio says that while concerned patrons can donate directly to their favorite restaurant’s GoFundMe page, which many have set up to provide immediate assistance to workers, he adds that this will not save those eateries from closing permanently. “A government stimulus package is the only way,” he says, “but if they really want to see their restaurants open, call your member of Congress and tell them we need them.”

This kind of activism comes easily and naturally to the restaurant industry. In times of crisis, chefs and restaurateurs have always stepped up to help those in need. Now they face widespread dire need. “I am not surprised by my peers,” says Colicchio. “When it was 9/11, we were in parks feeding people all day and night. When there’s a fundraiser, there are usually 20 chefs ready to dish out food all night, usually donating all that food and staff to whatever charity, be it Meals on Wheels, the New York Food Bank or the American Cancer Society. You name it we are the first responders to charitable issues. But now we can’t do that because we were the first to shut down . . . we’re stuck.”





Source: Forbes.com

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