Andrew’s Story
Andrew Volk, Owner, Hunt and Alpine Club, Portland, ME
This is a tough situation for any employer to be in, and it’s an even worse situation for employees to be in. We need support from the government for both small businesses and their employees, because we need each other for jobs and as customers.
Businesses are closing all around me. Friends who opened the same year we did, recently decided to close because there simply wasn’t enough help. A nationally recognized restaurant where I worked, met my wife and proposed to her, also closed. This is affecting everyone at every single level from mom and pop local places down the street to restaurants that were featured in glossy magazines.
Many of us have been able and fortunate enough to tap into PPP money, but that money is running out very very quickly. We’ve been able to map a way forward so far, but it’s been incredibly difficult and uncertain every day. The program was not designed for bars and restaurants. It’s a poorly designed program, and simply suggesting there should be a PPP part 2 is both irrational and unreasonable and frankly irresponsible.
Because of the uncertainty in the public health picture it’s simply not fair to ask businesses to take out loans. We don’t know what revenue we can rely on. Margins are thin and we don’t have capital, and for many it’s so much easier to close and feel in control of that choice than open and hope for the best. Without the expectation that revenue will return to pre-COVID levels any time soon, the federal government cannot be asking small business owners to take on more debt. We need grants to small businesses, and we need them now.
Some studies say over 70 percent of independent restaurants are going to close without further help. The next two months are going to see the bottom drop out.
What upsets me the most is we didn’t have to be in this situation, it could have been different. The public health picture and public health response has to be the priority. Without that we will not have a way forward. Prioritizing a liability shield for businesses is simply the government shirking its responsibility to its citizens.
There are currently 20 million people relying on unemployment assistance including two thirds of my own staff. A second round of PPP will just be a short term fix to a long term problem. And it makes me think that my Senator, Susan Collins, is deaf to the actual needs of small businesses and our employees.