Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries
Suppliers And Trade Groups Urge Congress To Pass The Bipartisan RESTAURANTS Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Over 215 suppliers and trade groups across 26 states and D.C. urged Congress to pass the bipartisan RESTAURANTS Act and establish a $120 billion revitalization fund for independent bars and restaurants. The suppliers, and various trade associations representing them, asserted that providing direct aid to the beleaguered food and beverage industry would give supply chain businesses confidence that they can continue to invest in restaurants and build the relationships that power their livelihoods.
Organized by the recently-formed Independent Restaurant Coalition, signers included well-known names like Bacardi (Florida), Brown-Forman (Kentucky), Niman Ranch (Colorado), Matthiasson Vineyards (California), and Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors (New Jersey). Trade associations that joined include:
United States Cattlemen’s Association
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
Organic Trade Association
Rural and Agriculture Council of America
Seafood Harvesters of America
The group writes, “We strongly encourage you to support the Independent Restaurant Revitalization request. The creation of this fund is a vital step to restart our national economic engine. We need restaurants to survive so we can help the millions of Americans in the extensive supply chain survive too.” The full letter is available below.
Forced closures of restaurants across the country have had devastating effects on the businesses that supply them:
$1 billion in perishable goods were left sitting in the stagnant supply chain within one week of dining rooms closing
Premium seafood product sales decreased by 80%.
Wine sales decreased by 67%.
Sales of spirits dropped by 75%.
Meat processors were forced to euthanize animals for lack of market demand for processed goods– at one poultry processor alone, two million chickens were slaughtered, and staffing was reduced by 50%.
Another chicken processor has decided to invest in a complete pivot to wholesale due to the fact that they expect restaurants to permanently close at an alarming rate nationwide.
The RESTAURANTS Act was introduced on June 18 by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR 3), and proposes a $120 billion Independent Restaurant Revitalization Fund for small food and beverage establishments facing devastating financial setbacks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The RESTAURANTS Act has bipartisan support within each chamber, with Sens. Doug Jones (D-AL), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Cory Gardner (R-CO) joining the Senate bill. The House proposal has over 25 co-sponsors, 9 of whom signed on this week.
The revitalization fund has been a long sought-after goal for the IRC – the Coalition wrote a letter to Congress on April 29 outlining their request for a bill. Weeks later, at a restaurant industry roundtable at the White House, the IRC took their proposal directly to the president. The IRC has consistently argued that the fund would be pivotal to guaranteeing that the restaurants now reopening will be able to stay open.
The Independent Restaurant Coalition was formed by chefs and independent restaurant owners across the country who have built a grassroots movement to secure vital protections for the nation’s 500,000 independent restaurants and the more than 11 million restaurant workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Coalition’s leadership team includes Tyler Akin, José Andrés, Kevin Boehm, Sean Brock, Katie Button, Andrew Carmellini, Ashley Christensen, Jeanie Chunn, Amanda Cohen, Tom Colicchio, Nina Compton, Rosa Garcia, Suzanne Goin, Gregory Gourdet, Will Guidara, Mason Hereford, Sam Kass, Max Katzenberg, Mike Lata, Camilla Marcus, Ivy Mix, Kwame Onwuachi, Patrick Phelan, Erika Polmar, Naomi Pomeroy, Steven Satterfield, Michael Shemtov, Nancy Silverton, Frank Stitt, Bobby Stuckey, Robert St. John, Caroline Styne, Jill Tyler, and Andrew Zimmern.