quote:
Congress screwed over many Bars and Restaurants this year and that is why many of them are closing and will continue to close. Want to know why? Here is what they did to the Pub and many others like us
December 2020:
Congress passes a 2nd PPP ( Payroll Protection Program ) for restaurants and bars. This money starts flowing in mid to late February and has the potential to fund our payroll for 6 months. It's a "use it or lose it" grant so, there is no way to stretch it to last through the summer.
December 2020
Congress allows bars and restaurants who have received the PPP to participate in the ERC (Employee Retention credit) through the end of June. The ERC funds a percentage of payroll.
The Pub's Plan in January 2020
At the Pub these sources of funding were vital as we knew there was not enough business to fund payroll. Our plan was to utiltize that funding to stay open through mid June and then close for a few months to conserve capital. Summer is always very slow even without COVID but these programs gave us the chance to compensate our staff well, at least until the end of June.
March 2021
Congress passes the Restaurant Revitalization Grant program promising all Restaurants and Bars grants based on the difference between 2019 sales and 2020 sales. The Pub qualifed for 785K with this program.
March 2021
Congress extends the Employee Retention Tax credit until the End of December 2021
The Pub's Plan in late March/ early April 2020
With the news of the RRF grants and the ERC extensions, we knew we would be able to sustain payroll through March of 2022 even if Fall Festival season and Mardi Gras 2022 were cancelled. We felt confident that these programs would keep our doors open and our staff well paid and their health insurance intact. With the Fall Festival season looking very busy we made the choice to hire and train rather than close for the slow summer months. We began hiring in early April 2020.
May 3rd 2021
The portal for the RRF grant opens and our application is submitted within 11 minutes of the portal opening, then we wait and wait.... and wait.
July 14 2021
The RRF portal closes because it has run out of money and congress does not refund it. While we knew in late May the program was running out of money, The Pub was in the priority group and we were encouraged to believe that if we were in that group, and had gotten our application in early, that the dollars had been set aside and that we would still get funding. Only 15% of the eligible businesses had been funded when it closed.
The Pubs plan in June/ July 2021
While losing the 785K RRF would hurt, it was not insurmountable. The ERC would be there to help with payroll until the end of 2021 and Festival season would mean a turn around in profit. Plus we had hired and made commitments for 20 employees and letting them go and closing suddenly wasn't the ethical thing to do.
Late July and August 2021
The Delta Variant hits Louisiana and New Orleans hard. Our business plummets the same week the news breaks about the precipitous rise in cases and the shortage of hospital beds. Festival Season Cancels.
The Pub's plan in early to mid August
Things are not good, I've been borrowing all summer to make my promised payroll but with the ERC maybe we can squeeze by during the fall.
August 2021
Congress announces the Infrastucture Bill. Yay! more jobs, right? Congress funds this bill partly with the elimination of the Employee Retention Credit. Now those partial payroll reimbursements would end on Sept 30th instead of Dec 30th.
So, why do I say Congress really screwed us over? Because if the RRF hadn't promised something it couldn't deliver, and if they hadn't promised the ERC through the end of 2021, my business would have made different decisions. We would NOT have hired up in April, instead we would have closed for the Summer to preserve capital and reopened in the Fall when we had a chance of breaking even.
If I have to close my 30 plus year fmaily business and my 20 employees lose their $20 plus an hour jobs and their health insurance, it's very difficult not to blame congress for making what was already a challenge into an insurmountable debacle.
- Polly Watts, Owner Avenue Pub.
Our congressional team and every reporter that writes about this industry needs to know this. Please share.

Interesting tactic, considering previous facebook posts praising the Mayor. If what she says is true, then yes, she got "screwed over" by congress only so much as she trusted in government to save the pub. Rather than oppose Latoya's shut down stance, and form an alliance with other businesses pushing back against the mayor and city council that is cancelling festivals, she is still supporting Mayor Phase ta-two.

This post was edited on 9/21/21 at 1:22 pm