Host lets focus now on the Restaurant Industry amid the coronavirus pandemic trade our guest is tom colicchio, people know him from top chef and his several restaurants. He now from the Restaurant Industry talking about the coronavirus pandemic viewers know him from top chef on the bravo reality tv series and also president of the Restaurant Coalition when and why did you found the coalition . It was around march 15 a friend of mine had the foundation interested in helping out T Restaurants and we were looking at a major problem and i. C. E. To be part of an organization working with various lobbyists and a friend of mine was a lobbyist and said independentde restaurants with a lobbying firm so i called my friend back and it started off as a small group and then we found another group down south 100 restaurants strong and based kept popping up in seattle and chicago and San Francisco all over the country and very quickly we pulled together getting on zoomm calls twice a day with a single goal to get congress to help us out. Host the National Restaurant association we are familiar with that how are you different . They are mostly comprised and get funding from chains or felt we were we in a different situation and we needed a voice for independenT Restaurants. Host how do they feel about bar and restaurant closures . Are there feelings state and local governments have gone too far . I believe the science and i feel in march and april we shouldve got her arms around this. Like in Melbourne Australia there are no cases and restaurants are fully opened open is are fully think if we had leadership early on we wouldve been through this already. My feeling is we have to close to keep the Community Safe and the science tells us that then that is fine that is exactly why we need the federal government to step up specifically targeting T Restaurants thats why the Restaurant Coalition and six months which is a very short time we have written the house and the senate with bipartisan support the bill was written the house from oregon and the senator from mississippi road in the senate 203 cosponsors in the house if this was on the bill today on the floor it would pass easily we are part of the heroes act. We did our job now we have to get over the goalpost. We were forced to close. We get it. R some never shouldve opened now they are close gender and outdoor. Chicago is close others if they dont change new york is shutting down restaurants. We will do our part for this is why. And with the restaurant act providing 120 billion of Grant Programs to independent bars and restaurants covering revenues 2019 through 2020 less restrictive than the ppe loan program for what is eligible and other provisions asha well. You said it would pass if it was a standalone bill why isnt it right now . They stopped regular order in washington. They want to talk about the stimulus if this would be part of the floor it would easily pass even Elizabeth Warren signed up with the same bill i dont think that has ever happened or will again this just demonstrates the amount of bipartisan support we have for thisre bill. Senator worker along with senator sinema have been real champions on the senate side relentlessly pushing this and fighting for this. Thats what we need ands leadership. You mentioned ppp but if you had, a business heard by 20 percent and laid off a handful ofer workers that was great because now you funded the entire payroll and that really gives you a leg up but if it was 80 or 9100 percent it didnt i receive ppe the only way i could do that was higher people back and when it ran out if i didnt that i would break the law the last thing i knew one i need right now is additional i debt it was very restrictive they could only be payroll and rent and utilities so now i have bills going back to april right now probably later than that so theres no way to pay your bills so we have a bill that is less restrictive i can use payroll and also rent and for a period of time this is whats really important because we need to get through this pandemic because once we reopen in the summer when the public is vaccinated and people think its safe to go out, withouT Restaurants they are millions of jobs people will not have and im not talking about the jobs of the waiters and cooks. That is 11 million but factor fishermen and plumbers and electricians all who service the restaurants we are looking at 16 Million People so this affects a lot of people the federal Government Employees more people than any other. You will recognize our guest from the reality show top chef also the cofounder of the coalition here is how we are splitting up your calls. Jimmy from Greenville South Carolina good morning. Caller good morning. To get some feedback why were not Wearing Masks in all the restaurants . I feel like if it was shut down in the beginning like the first 30 days with mask with a complete shutdown we wouldnt be in theio situation now. But since we are what we just do the 30 days shutdown like we should have in the beginning . Thank you for your question. My restaurants are in new york and los angeles and we are Wearing Masks. It is mandatory for employees and also guests unless they are actually eating or drinking if they call a waiter to the table the mask goes back on i am trying to protect my staff they are already playing themselves in a position because once unemployment ran out federally, they had to come back to work it on the table. My job is to keep them safe im not sure whats going on in North Carolina but i think we already have a dangerous situation with the amount of spread hospitals are completely filled up and to make sure my staff is as safe. Mentioning the National Restaurant association more than 110,000 restaurants across the country have close permanently or long term as the industry grapples more than 100 shutdown since september have you had to shut down any of your restaurants or are you considering . I am considering. I am hanging on to see what happens with thenm government but there are probably one or two i did lay off staff on march 13 i laid off 470 employees. Restaurants are at the main target but its not clear to me they are the primary source of covid spread have you seen it is spreading widely aT Restaurants . There is a study at Stanford University the makes a very good argument for how the virus does spread indoors and restaurants especially. Host michigan good morning. Caller good morning thanks for taking my call. I tried to get through to the other two. If the congress has entertained anything about taxes in this emergency situation is there any relief with taxes the employees dont pay any income tax payroll or business anything that has anything to do with the Food Industry because that is essential can you elaborate will that help out the industry to get things on the basis where they could come to a conclusion . There has been discussions i have heard to suspend income tax but there have been discussions about the employer tax credit being that the employees get the credit for everyone that they employed and brought back there has been discussion there but i have not heard of a tax holiday. Lied of cities and states are discussing that but i have not heard that. Also used to make under certain amount of money there is the earned income tax credit you can apply for. But i have not heard anybody talk about stemming federal taxes. Santa fe good mexico good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to know where the direct payments are . What about feeding the children and what independenT Restaurants will do about that and what tom thinks about mcconnells plan to grant a pardon to all corporations like tyson who had an outbreak of covid because of a lack of covid cautions . Is a with the union leader is supposed to do . Yes. There are a couple of questions with income taxes first protections for businesses dont think it should be but there will be lawsuits forever and some of them frivolous i think getting the language right and protection for businesses are fine. I dont think its open ended you cannot sue anyone been in the case of tyson people were bedding who would get it the federal government came in especially with meatpacking and they cut osha out of the process and looking at what was happening the president use the authority and the powers to force employees to go back to work without protection it shouldnt be openended i agree with that but in terms of restaurants feeding hungry people theyve always been on the leading edge of feeding hungry people. Actually enlisting restaurants fair to the pandemic it was in areas where fires or storms he had them open the restaurants that happened all acrosss the country there are other organizations where they actually give restaurants the money six or seven dollars per meal then they provide meals to the community that is already happening there is the feed act a republican senator is supporting matt where they are actually trying to get federal dollars to close the restaurantt to do that type of work. That is happening also in the heroes act theres a 15 percent increase thats not being talked about right now but the small package doesnt include the checks to go out only the 300dollar unemployment as opposed to 600 and doesnt include any additional money but now in the omnibus bill we have to get through by a decembe decembh , there are some provisions and therefore additional staff other programs. There is a lot of need cars are lined up hours long waiting to get food im seeing alexis and the bmw and mercedes this is the uppermiddleclass and then they lost their job now they are struggling. I hope that comes out of this on the hunger site is a sense ofmp f empathy for people who ae struggling. For too many years we heard people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps or that they are not deserving for now we see that pandemic like major flooding and has a major impact on the middle class. Hopefully when we are through this there is a deeper sense of empathy. Frank is on the line out ofe new york. I love your work and cspan thank you for being the last opinion source in america i get what you are saying but there are also some people who are gaining the system obviously not healthcare workers we have two decades to build our brand and clientele so think about the guy who put his house on the line and all his relatives did to start the restaurant in march of this year and lost everything. We are down 60 or 70 then struggling to come back up but i think about that guy who never even had a chance. At the same time, there are an increasing number of friends and colleagues who dont want government we are in inches at the front of the dining room we arere so grateful for those who have stayed with us we will give you more money to stay home and the school say you need to stay home and take care of your kids but my elf and many others say dont give us a handout what is so plan the business to be responsible for this capricious shutdown in sta many states up and down n and off. You can open all summer long. And two or three times and we were forced to shut down what we are asking for is to stay open you are absolutely right. Not just people who are well known like me the for the naturalized citizen this is the available to them as well actually to go through the treasury it is income replacement so i can open my restaurant 100 percent right now because people are afraid to go out and they should be. It is dangerous and people are dying. A good friend of mine who is a fantastic chef died of this. I hear what you are saying open up. 55 percent is still not enough to make it we believe the federal government can bail out banks then we can employ more people that were those 95000 people. This is much more complex and this is where the federal government should step in. And they will play out that 207 billion in Economic Activity once we are through the pandemic its always in the best interest of taxpayers meant to help the Auto Industry so this is investment is not a handout as Small Businesses we are open to employ all of those. Talk about visiting did you if it for that takeout model is a viable. We do take out but no its not that when we do get to the pandemic all of the income streams we will hold on to and this is how the industry will change to talk about changing industry and it is the kitchen a small kitchen clustered you set up business for delivery only and then circuits are delivering. And then a young business the only people making money not the individual offers. Good morning. I been listening to cspan of obligated to call and tell the segment. Ive ownedur restaurant 16 years with a very low paid technology job. Unfortunately i had to close and september. Mainly because of of covid. Thirtytwo seats and 800 square foot building it was almost 6000 square feet when i closed. The overhead was too much. Now im 150,000 in debt from the disaster loan we are still trying to work on that so with everything that has happened i will eventually reopen but is or something out there to help a guy like me . The 150,000 in that does this on in the disaster bill that was strictly to survive is there anything out there . It wasnt Business Growth or anything else because of the size off my location that there would be stuff out there and then hopefully with that subject as well. Im sorry what you are going through. And with that overhead and then to close my doors with 40000. You were Small Businesses we cannot pay our bills. Restaurants at best right now and then five and 12 percent on top of that right now the Fourth Quarter is where we make the money so here in that position so as there will be the ppe pletter fax if your eusiness has impacted 35 percent it doesnt work. Soberly goes out to pay employees i desire them back to get money out the door. And my understanding of the llc am sure you are okay with a personal guarantee