Food: Restaurants in peril

Restaurants across the country are in trouble, as are many businesses.

As we see here in Sonoma, small town restaurants in every congressional district throughout the country are hurting, and many closing. Sonoma has the advantage of tourists (with and without masks), but most communities do not.

Sondra Bernstein, owner of the Girl & the Fig, was interviewed recently on NPR and here are some main points from the resulting NPR story:

The restaurant industry is facing "an existential crisis," according to a report from the Independent Restaurant Coalition, a national organization formed in March that counts Bernstein as a member. “Laid-off restaurant workers are the largest category of the newly unemployed,” according to the NPR story. “The Independent Restaurant Coalition warns that without doing something big, 85 percent of independent restaurants could close permanently."

Elaine Bell of Elaine Bell Catering and her husband John Merritt are hoping to call attention to a bill introduced in Congress known as the Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed To Survive Act, or the RESTAURANTS ACT.

Both the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the National Restaurant Association appear to support the bill and, according to John Merritt, “even Lindsey Graham is a co-sponsor.”

“The Food and Beverage Industry needs this $120 billion bill to provide structured relief to food service or drinking establishments through Dec. 31, 2020, and for other purposes,” said Merritt.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Rob Larman of Cochon Volant emailed that Sonoma County has raised restaurant health inspection fees by 20 percent, adding to restaurant owners’ struggles.