National poll: 50% of restaurants may fail if they don't get relief funds
On Long Island, just 12% of restaurants won relief grants. Here, the dining room of B.K. Sweeney's Parkside Tavern in Bethpage. Credit: Linda Rosier
The omicron variant has had a devastating impact on the dining industry, especially restaurants passed over last year by the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, the National Restaurant Association reports.
In a Zoom news conference on Monday, the NRA announced that a poll of U.S. restaurateurs found that almost half that didn’t get RRF funding in 2021 say they likely won’t survive unless the fund is replenished. This could result in the loss of 1.6 million jobs nationwide, NRA spokesman Sean Kennedy said.
"The Restaurant Revitalization Fund has been a critical lifeline for so many but far more remain on the sidelines," said Kennedy. He said the NRA wrote to Congress to encourage the replenishment of the fund.
On Long Island, just 12% of restaurants, bars and catering halls won grants from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund before it ran out of money, according to a Newsday analysis of federal data.
Approximately $270 million went to about 1,100 eating and drinking establishments in Nassau and Suffolk counties, the analysis shows. There are nearly 9,200 such establishments licensed by the county health departments.
The average grant amount locally was $248,250. About 40 businesses received more than $1 million each, while nearly 500 got less than $100,000, according to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which Newsday obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The restaurant association poll, completed by 4,200 restaurateurs from across the nation between Jan. 16 to 18, found 88% of restaurants saw a decline in indoor dining due to the omicron variant; 76% report business is worse now than it was three months ago, and 74% report their restaurant is less profitable now than pre-pandemic. Also, 94% said a grant would let them retain or hire back employees.
Kennedy said the RRF funding last year saved more than 900,000 jobs nationwide and helped 96 percent of grant recipients stay in business.
Kennedy cited the industry’s average 3% to 5% percent profit margin, and the fact that before the pandemic, the average restaurant had just 16 days’ cash on hand in case of emergency. "The needs of the restaurant industry have never been more dire and never been more clear right now," he said.
— with James T. Madore
