We Shouldn’t Forget That Restaurants Are Part of Travel, Too

So I’m willing to bet that my idea of a vacation is fairly similar to yours.

Prior to getting married, it was the beach and golf and clubbing.

After getting married, it was the beach and sightseeing and shopping and being a typical tourist. Not so much clubbing.

After having children, it was the beach and a lot of Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, perfect for a guy who is afraid of heights and speed but who loves his kids.

The one constant besides being near the water, no matter what type of trip or with whom, was always this – a good dinner.

Not just a good dinner, but a good dinner.

I’m no gourmet, but part of any vacation for me is a long, slow, delicious dinner at a restaurant I likely haven’t been to and might not ever visit again. See, to me, the food is part of the allure of the trip. And we haven’t thought long and hard enough about the plight of restaurants during this pandemic.

The airlines and other travel industries have certainly benefitted from the two stimulus relief packages passed by the federal government, and restaurants – ostensibly – should have benefitted as well from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) loans.

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But the second package passed just after Christmas for $900 billion, including $284 billion worth of PPP loans, did not specifically address restaurant relief.

It’s why we need the Senate to approve the $120 billion RESTAURANTS Act (Real Economic Support That Acknowledges Unique Restaurant Assistance Needed To Survive Act).

The bill would help restaurants, bars, cafés, and other brick-and-mortar businesses, as well as caterers. It’s different from the PPP loans, which as we’ve come to see were not exactly distributed in an equal manner. Originally intended for small business and minority-owned businesses, we’ve seen big corporations and chains able to take advantage of the opportunity before mom-and-pop joints.

By several accounts, we’ve lost between 30 and 40 percent of restaurants in this country since the pandemic hit almost a year ago, and who knows how many worldwide. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, restaurants lost 17,400 jobs in November alone, adding to a total of 2.1 million jobs in the sector over the last year.

The new legislation increases the amount that restaurateurs can borrow, up to 3.5 times the monthly payroll. Businesses would then have between eight and 24 weeks to use the funds in order to qualify for loan forgiveness.

Why the Senate is dragging its heels on this is unknown.

But I can tell you that a lot of politicians are still eating dinner at The Dabney in Washington D.C., or picking up pastries in the morning at Elle. Because it’s what we do, whether we are on home turf or visiting as a tourist.

Visiting a famous or well-known or highly reviewed restaurant is part of the tourism experience. When I am in my beloved Las Vegas I never miss a chance to go to Chicago Joe’s, the best Italian joint in a city filled with celebrity chefs. Visiting Yankees spring training in Tampa, Fla., a few years ago, I couldn’t wait to get to Bern’s Steakhouse – a decadent and expensive, but worthy, experience. To this day, I swear that if my car was in the shop and public transportation was shut down for some reason, I still would crawl on my hands and knees over broken glass just to get to Peter Luger Steakhouse in Brooklyn.

And we won’t even get into what “foodies” do when they, literally, organize trips to faraway destinations just to eat the food.

Yes, restaurants are very much part of tourism. Our government needs to treat it as such.