New campaign seeks support for Connecticut restaurants
Industry group starts #SaveCTRestaurants, reaches out to officials
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to batter the restaurant industry nationwide, the Connecticut Restaurant Association launched a campaign Tuesday to garner support for the state’s local food and drink businesses.
In the coming days and weeks, the organization’s #SaveCTRestaurants campaign will highlight stories of local restaurant owners, stress the importance of employers as a backbone of local economies throughout the state and urge elected officials to support an industry that employed more than 160,000 people before the pandemic.
Executive director Scott Dolch sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative leaders Tuesday, urging their support.
“Unfortunately, more than 600 restaurants, caterers and private event venues have already closed over the past eight months, and without additional support many more are likely to shutter in the weeks and months ahead,” he wrote. “These are predominantly small businesses, often family run, who are employing local Connecticut residents in every corner of our state.”
Dolch told The Courant he’s basing that number on conversations with five of the state’s top food distributors, who have lost accounts throughout the year as restaurants have either opted to close permanently or have not yet set a date to reopen. He expects the number to rise.
The CRA’s letter asks for state leaders to support the industry by keeping indoor dining open, creating a new business grant program to support restaurants and to help boost consumer confidence, highlighting safety measures and prac
tices restaurant are undertaking.
Dolch has said he’s asked Connecticut officials for more state grant funding. The CT CARES Small Business Grant Program will provide a one-time $5,000 grant to eligible small businesses, but Dolch has said neighboring states have been providing much more aid. Massachusetts is offering similar grants up to $75,000, and Rhode Island is offering grants of $30,000.
“The “Connecticut CARES” program, while very well-intentioned, simply pales in comparison to what others states are doing — Connecticut must do more if we want to save our restaurants,” he wrote in the letter.
As Connecticut surpassed 5,000 coronavirus-linked deaths Monday amid a rising number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, Gov. Ned Lamont pushed back against a group of doctors calling for further restrictions to control the pandemic.
“We don’t have to do everything by fiat,” Lamont said. “In many cases people tend to do what they feel comfortable with, and that’s what keeps them safe.”
The doctors wrote Lamont last week, urging him to shutter gyms and halt indoor dining to curb the spread of the virus. They suggested the governor take action now, before the ongoing coronavirus outbreak worsens, arguing that prompt action will save lives.
Lamont said Monday he will meet with the group this week but that he doesn’t consider additional steps necessary. He said he wants “the right balance” and hopes to contain the pandemic “without shutting down big pieces of the economy.”
“I’m hopeful that the curve could bend without having to take that drastic action,” Lamont said.