BOISE, Idaho — The food and beverage industry is one of the hardest-hit industries by the pandemic. However, there's a collective effort in the works to help save Idaho’s independent restaurants, especially now, as the winter months are here and many restaurants that were already struggling are no longer able to seat people outside.
“It’s very stressful, it's very tough,” said Dave Krick, the managing partner at Bittercreek, Red Feather and Diablo and Sons restaurants.
Krick is also the president of Fare Idaho, an organization of local independent businesses that represents all sectors of Idaho’s food and beverage industries.
“Restaurants and beverage establishments have just been uniquely affected by this pandemic through mandated restrictions and repeated closures,” Krick said.
He said restaurants have been left out in the cold figuratively and now, literally.
“I think winter has brought an explosion of COVID and the cold temperatures, no more outdoor dining and the public is just reticent to frequent our establishments and we're seeing it downtown Boise it is just tough. the office community is working from home, they're working remotely, they're not coming downtown,” Krick said.
Local businesses need help, which is why Fare Idaho partnered with the Independent Restaurant Coalition and is urging Congress to implement what's known as the Restaurants Act. It’s a $120-billion-dollar grant package to help restaurants with expenses like rent, payroll and supplies.
“What we need from our state is we need our delegation, Sen. Crapo, Sen. Risch, to continue to work hard to inject the Restaurants Act into the stimulus bill,” Krick said.
He added they've been in talks with the senators and their staff, and while he's optimistic that some kind of bill will get done, it needs to happen sooner rather than later.
“Across the country, we've lost about 112,000 restaurants across the country now, just in the last three months alone we've lost over 10,000 restaurants and that's permanently closed forever,” Krick said.
Fare Idaho has recently started tracking the businesses closing here in the Gem State and within the last week or two they've counted 20, Krick told KTVB. He said he’s also had to lay off a third of his staff in the last couple of weeks.
“Our industry is suffering horribly,” Krick said. “So, as we're working out a tax break for the state, how about a sales tax break for restaurants and bars while we're in the months of December, January and February, while we're in the worst of this, while we're messaging the public to stay home?”
The Restaurants Act differs from the Paycheck Protection Program because it is a much more flexible program and would allow businesses to put the funds toward additional expenses, not just toward payroll. It's also a grant as opposed to a loan.
In addition to pushing for the Restaurants Act, Fare Idaho is also working with the Department of Commerce and the City of Boise on the "Drink and Dine Safe Campaign."
The campaign is a pledge businesses can sign that states they are following the local and state guidelines to keep the public safe.