Failure to Replenish RRF is a Gut Punch to Our Industry

As you have likely heard, Congress this week finally reached a bipartisan agreement on their annual spending bill.  The agreement is silent on replenishing the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and no new funds will be directed to complete the mission by funding the 177,000 applications still pending. For Wisconsin, this represents 3,776 establishments who collectively need $715,697,000 to survive. These are losses they endured that were not covered by PPP funds.

The National Restaurant Association called this failure a “gut punch” to our industry and we couldn’t agree more. We left no stone unturned in our efforts to get Congress to fulfill their promise to the restaurant industry. Unfortunately, many leaders in Washington were not willing to commit to replenishment in fear that it would send a message that the US economy is not in recovery. We are waiting for the dust to settle in Washington and to identify if there are other avenues to replenish this sorely-needed program.

This decision from Congress is a huge blow to our efforts and the path forward is very uncertain. Our own data from you show that without these critical dollars, upwards of 40% of our Wisconsin restaurants could close on top of the 10-15% that have already shuttered their doors. Restaurants are going to close as a result of inaction, and thousands of fellow Wisconsinites have answered our call every time we’ve asked you to engage in this fight.

From the start of this pandemic, the Wisconsin Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association have pursued an “all-of-the-above” strategy for the industry, diving into every issue at the federal, state, and local level that could help or hurt us.  From cocktails-to-go to worker shortages to the recently passed RRF Tax Treatment bill, we have had a seat at the table for every major policy debate underway.  That will not change.

You’ll be hearing more from us and the National Restaurant Association on the outlook for RRF, but in the meantime there’s a host of other issues we need to be focused on. We’re not stopping, and hope you won’t either.

​Kristine Hillmer
Wisconsin Restaurant Association President & CEO

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