• On average, 90% of that revenue gets paid out directly to our employees, suppliers, and for rent.TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to pass the RESTAURANTS Act Cohen, like Ringel and Compton, received a PPP loan. •  Independent restaurants are expected to generate up to $653 billion in sales in 2020. Representative Crow is dedicated to transparency and accountability in government. They were never meant to float businesses in an industry that would be strangled by seemingly endless restrictions on business operations. The Independent Restaurant Coalition was formed earlier this year to assist local restaurants and bars affected by COVID-19. We are a collective voice to advocate for the health and prosperity of independent restaurants and bars with a culinary program in the Twin Cities through advocacy, … • On average, 90% of that revenue gets paid out directly to our employees, suppliers, and for rent. ""We don't have the infrastructure or the financial support that chain restaurants have," said Amanda Cohen of Dirty Candy in NYC. The Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed To Survive Act (RESTAURANTS Act) specifically notes that restaurants are in a uniquely vulnerable position. Don't be fooled by reports of surging retail and pending economic recovery, however; for small restaurants, the Wuhan coronavirus shutdowns were a fatal blow. "I don't know who I turn to now if I need more money." How many more must shut their doors for good before they are permitted to survive?Why a WaPo Reporter Got Wrecked for Playing the 'What If' Game With Executive Orders, Obama, and TrumpThe ‘Empty the Jails Due to COVID’ Folks Should Have a Nice Time Explaining What Happened in Virginia Looks Like Biden Can't Remember How Much He Loves Payroll Tax CutsJordan, Scalise Explain the Real Reason the NY AG Is Going After the NRAWallace Won't Let Pelosi Forget Congress Failed to Compromise on a Coronavirus Relief PackageDid You Notice the Problematic Element in the NYT Piece About Those Who Survived the Seattle CHOP Zone? A recent press call with the IRC and several small restaurant owners across the nation revealed a brewing sense of panic among chefs, employers, and business operators. We have achieved that, and yet businesses are dying in droves every day. The Independent Restaurant Coalition is fighting to save local restaurants affected by COVID-19. The "new normal" approach embraced by leaders across the nation is to keep restaurants significantly throttled well into the multi-phase approach to reopening. Restaurant owners from other parts of the country seconded Ringel's sentiment. Storefronts shuttered for months are now welcoming customers on a limited basis, restaurants are seating tables on the patio, and normal life appears to be within grasp. The IRC was formed in response to the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on independent restaurants, and they’re asking Congress for loan extensions and business insurance interruption coverage . As mask-donning servers approach our widely distanced tables and we grasp our disposable paper menus, the reality for independent restaurants in America is bleak. Sixty percent of restaurants said they're actually losing money just by offering those options. ... Video recording of May 6 town hall. A new report released by the Independent Restaurant Coalition estimates that 85 percent of small restaurants will be closed by the end of 2020. • Independent restaurants are expected to generate up to $653 billion in sales in 2020. As Democratic leaders celebrate the right to free speech by the protesters and urban occupiers in "The CHOP" in Seattle, restaurants across the country very willing to follow sanitary, mask, and other guidelines are being told they're criminals for trying to open their businesses. The Independent Restaurant Coalition — led by chefs Tom Colicchio, Kwame Onwuachi, Naomi Pomeroy —asks Congress to fix the CARES Act.

#SaveRestaurants. To schedule a meeting with Congressman Crow, please complete the Meeting Request We Are Restaurants video.

The Paycheck Protection Program meant to keep employees paid offered some small businesses a relief and a delay of the inevitable, but a future of social distancing regulations and diminished business that could extend for years means utilities, leases, and vendor bills will not be paid. Those loans were meant as a stop gap to fill in a short break of business brought on by the unprecedented peril of a global pandemic. • The economic activity generated by the restaurant industry as a whole accounts for 4% of the nation’s GDP.

Simply put, keeping six feet apart at all times with half the dining room closed is a practice that is mutually exclusive of financial survival for any restaurant. Transcript from April 9 Instagram Live.

Independent restaurants, like all of us, were told that the shutdowns were in place to flatten the curve of viral spread and allow us to prepare for future hospitalizations and potential spikes. Townhall.com is the leading source for conservative news and political commentary and analysis.Wallace Won't Let Pelosi Forget Congress Failed to Compromise on a Coronavirus Relief PackageThe Media's Coverage of Sturgis Rally Seems Different Than Recent Large Gatherings [Watch] Antifa and BLM Jackals Spectacularly Fail to Scare Pro-Cop Americans at Portland Courthouse'Pure political theater': Janice Dean explains how she was 'welcome to testify at tomorrow's nursing home hearings in New York' (UNTIL she wasn't welcome) The few states with low enough COVID-19 transmission rates have chosen to grant business owners permission to earn some money again say they may only do so with a fraction of the business they need to survive.

"I don't think most restaurants will even last to December. But according to a survey conducted by Eater, 87 percent of restaurants in San Francisco say they'll close if they're held to only take-out and delivery.

While more money funneled through Congress from the American taxpayers could provide more short-term relief for restaurants, prolonged shutdowns are keeping independent restaurant servers, cooks, bartenders, and other staff off the clocks and with reduced pay. For many diners still nervous about viral spread and patrons uninterested in waiting hours for a table, the restaurant business model we've used for several decades is no longer viable. Some restaurants have attempted to stay afloat through closure by providing delivery and pick up service, which falls outside their normal dine-in business models.