NEW YORK – Restaurants owners across the U.S. are worried that a loan from the government’s coronavirus relief program could wind up being a burden instead of a blessing.
The Paycheck Protection Program has disbursed more than 4.3 million loans worth more than half a trillion dollars to small businesses in about six weeks.
A PPP loan can be forgiven if owners spend the money within eight weeks of receiving it and put at least 75% of it toward employees’ pay and the rest toward rent, mortgage interest and utilities.
For those who own and run restaurants, however, those terms can seem out of sync with the realities of their business. Many restaurants either remain closed or are doing just a fraction of their former business as cities and