Honeypie, other restaurants want Congress to help the industry

Coalition says needs are too long-term for PPP

A new trade group representing independent restaurants is urging Congress to approve an infusion of $120 billion to help them survive the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The economic hit to the industry has been catastrophic. Waiters, cooks, bartenders and the like account for one in four jobs lost during the pandemic, according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition.

Valeri Lucks is the co-founder of Honeypie, a comfort food restaurant in Bay View that is part of the IRC as well as its local chapter. She felt the effects of the pandemic instantly.

Honeypie is including a flyer in takeout orders encouraging customers to show their support for the bill.

“Initially, we were terrified that we weren’t gonna make it past 60 days,” Lucks said.

Her business has made it far longer than 60 days, but it did so at a steep cost — the restaurant has had to reduce its staff of nearly 40 employees to nine, she said.

“We are a lucky group in that we were able to look at it and think we’d make it that far,” Lucks said.

Honeypie received significant help — and quickly — in the form of the Payment Protection Program, the federal initiative designed to assist small businesses distressed by COVID-19. But those loans are intended for immediate and short-term relief, whereas the crisis faced by restaurants is an enduring one. Additionally, PPP expires on Aug. 8, and Congress remains at a stalemate over how much help small businesses should receive going forward.

A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress in June by Sen. Roger Wicker (RMiss.) and House Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon.

The bill would allow businesses to seek financial assistance from Feb. 15 through Dec. 31. The aggregate grant amount would not exceed $10 million, and eligible businesses would be required to have annual revenue of less than $1.5 million.

The IRC report found 5.9 million jobs in the industry have been lost, with at least 4.5 million coming from independent restaurants.

Most startlingly, it says “this country risks permanently losing as many as 85% of independent restaurants by the end of the year.”

Lucks co-founded Honeypie with her brother in 2009. “It would break my heart,” she said about the possibility of having to shut the doors.

Restaurants operate on small margins, and the disruption of business, for even a week, can have a dramatic impact on profitability.

Many lives are affected by the closing of a restaurant.

“Their livelihoods and their craft is tied to our businesses,” Lucks said about her employees.

“And I want to make sure that they’re OK and that we can all come out of this hopefully better.”

MIKE DE SISTI / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Rebecca Ristic, Honeypie head server, slices a piece of chocolate caramel graham cracker crust pie at the restaurant, 2643 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., in Milwaukee on Wednesday. Honeypie, in the Bayview neighborhood, is part of the Independent Restaurant Coalition.