Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta said on CNBC that at only 25% maximum capacity New York restaurants are going to go out of business:
New York Restaurants Are Not Going To Last
Restaurants are not going to last at these kinds of numbers. Anybody who has a restaurant in New York that is full-service casual dining at 25% is going to go out of business. It’s really a shame. People have taken years and years and years to build these restaurants up. I have a huge company with restaurants in 40 states. I have casinos that are doing well. But if you are a New York restaurateur you’re in for a long haul right now.
I will say it again. I don’t think that the government officials realize it because they get their paycheck every single week. They don’t realize that these cooks, these waiters, these hostesses, and then the managers at these restaurants, and how difficult it is when you are not getting a paycheck every week. And you don’t get that $600 kick from the government anymore. So you are going to see unemployment stay probably where it is until we get through the winter months and we start to improve things hopefully or the vaccine comes out.
Don’t Punish Me Just Because I’m Big
My whole problem has been I definitely want to take care of the small mom and pop businesses. I think we should also take care of the airlines. But you can’t leave people out like me. I’m a 100% owned family business. Don’t punish me just because I’m big and I provide 60,000 jobs out there. I can’t make a 60,000 payroll if they shut us down again. I don’t want to have to lay my employees off again. There has got to be something that treats everybody. Forget about the ownership.
Why should an employee (not get helped out) because you work for a billionaire and you don’t? Or, a person that isn’t the front person of the company. I know people that have billionaires that really own restaurants and the chef only owns a small percentage but they were all able to take PPP money because they are not at the forefront like I am. I just want to see everybody treated the same. The government definitely needs to come in and help everyone but it should be for all employees of all businesses, especially restaurants and retail. Don’t look at ownership. Make the money go to the employees. Don’t worry about me.