Why Everyone Needs To Be Supporting Small Businesses
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Over the course of the pandemic, thousands of small businesses have occurred damage due to less people going out. About 38.6 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the beginning of the pandemic.
April 16, 2020
One of the hardest hit industries because of the COVID-19 outbreak is the service industry, particularly restaurants. Many small businesses around the country have had to transition their services to delivery, online and take-out based, with some even having to shut down. However, some of these effects can be minimized if everyone works together.
Over the past 4 weeks, 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment, across all lines of work. According to the National Restaurant Association 3% of all restaurants have announced they are shutting their doors for good.
And that’s just right now. That number could jump up to 11% with the current conditions continuing the way it is now.
In addition, 70% of restaurants have already had to lay off employees, with that number expected to rise. The number of laid off employees is around 3 million, and again that number is only expected to grow.
It’s important to support restaurants because for many of them, there simply isn’t enough money in reserve to keep going with the transition to take out and delivery.
It’s important to support restaurants because for many of them, there simply isn’t enough money in reserve to keep going with the transition to take out and delivery. While there is aid on the way from the federal government, many businesses may not be able to survive by the time those loans do arrive.
The Small Business Administration (who is managing the small business loan program) has been overwhelmed with the demand so most of the loans have not been given out, and when they are, they will most likely be not as much as originally expected.
However, there is a way to minimize the effect on restaurants, and that’s by doing what you can to help because every little bit can add up to a lot.
One of the more obvious ways to help restaurants is by getting a take out or delivery meal every once and awhile. A meal one or two times a week means much more to these businesses than you realize, so if everyone that has the opportunity to do this a couple times it can add up, and really do a lot.
Another way to support restaurants now is through buying gift cards. While the opportunity to go out to eat in a restaurant is not an option right now,there will be opportunities in the future. Through buying a gift card you can help businesses stay alive, and when everything is over, you can go out to a nice meal.
To keep your favorite places alive during these odd times, everyone should try to order out occasionally- it could save your favorite restaurants, and definitely worth a nice meal.
