COLUMBIA, Pa. — The restaurant industry is calling on state government to do more to help struggling restaurants, despite recently announced plans by Gov. Tom Wolf to waive liquor license fees through 2021.
Gov. Wolf last Thursday announced the waiver plan, which the administration said would provide 16,000 restaurants and bars more than $20 million in relief.
“Unfortunately we’ve seen that even when owner and employees and patrons do everything right, the very nature of COVID continues to make gatherings at restaurants at full capacity really dangerous,” Gov. Wolf said. “They should not be forced to bear the financial brunt of this burden alone.”
The waiver would apply to restaurants, bars, clubs and hotels from Jan. 1, 2021 through the end of the year.
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The impact of that waiver is barely a drop in the bucket of restaurants’ costs, said John Longstreet, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association.
“It’s not going to carry the restaurants through,” Longstreet said. “It’s a gesture but unfortunately at this point in time with the damage that’s been done to the restaurant industry, it’s an empty gesture.”
The average annual cost of liquor licensing fees is about $1,200, Longstreet said.
On a rainy Sunday evening, employees at Hurricane Pizza Grill in West Hempfield Township were frantically answering phones and taping order receipts on the wall for the delivery drivers to match to meals. Giffen said the restaurant was doing better than most thanks to strong demand for delivery, but was still losing money.
Giffen said he could earn back the $1,500 he pays annually in liquor licensing fees in a single weekend of business pre-COVID restrictions.
“A free $1,500 is great, but when you’re losing $4,000, $5,000 a month, it’s only going to do you so much,” Giffen said.
Nearly two thirds of Pennsylvania restaurants polled in the last month by PRLA said they would not survive another six months under current conditions, Longstreet said.
PRLA is calling for fewer restrictions on restaurants.
“Honestly, there is not enough money in the state of Pennsylvania to save the restaurant industry. Everybody knows that,” Longstreet said. “The only thing that will save the restaurant industry is to get them open with safe and sensible and reasonable standards.”
The Wolf administration has eased some restrictions, such as increasing restaurant capacity to 50 percent in September.
Gov. Wolf has also publicly advocated for the U.S. Congress to release an additional $225 million of CARES Act funding in the form of forgivable loans to small businesses.
Loans are also problematic, Giffen said, as many restaurant owners don’t know how they’ll pay back the loans they’ve already taken if they aren’t forgiven.
“It does nothing but add stress to an already bad situation,” Giffen said.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is expected to address waiving license fees at its next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 28.