Local chefs, restaurateurs beg government to help their devastated industry amid pandemic

With their businesses closed or pared down to skeleton crews running carryout and delivery operations, local restaurateurs are turning to politicians for relief from the devastating losses they and their workers are suffering from amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chef Ji Hye Kim of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor had to furlough most of her 28-person staff except for five employees who are handling carryout orders at the modern Korean restaurant. They’re staggering shifts so that each one can reach the minimum threshold of hours required to retain their health care.

Kim, who has been a prominent supporter of the One Fair Wage campaign to abolish sub-minimum wages for tipped employees and pays all employees a living wage, said political action has helped her feel better in this depressing time.

“I think actually doing that work has been giving me a little more energy,” Kim said. “All the staff that I have currently are also encouraged. They feel a little less grim when they hear that all the restaurant owners and chefs are trying to do something and ask for help for the government.”

Kim was part of an informal group of local chefs and independent restaurateurs who were on a call with Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters on Thursday asking for help for an industry that has been decimated overnight by the novel coronavirus. Zingerman’s co-founder Paul Saginaw, Lady of the House chef-owner Kate Williams, Takoi and Magnet chef Brad Greenhill, Selden Standard chef Andy Hollyday, New York-based chef Andrew Carmellini, Standby partner Joe Robinson, Salonniere founder Julie Egan, and FoodLab Detroit’s Devita Davison were also on the call, according to Kim.

“Gift cards and selling merch is not going to save us,” Davison said, referring to locally owned food businesses. “GoFundMe accounts are not going to save the industry.”

According to estimates from the National Restaurant Association, the restaurant industry is set to lose $225 billion and 5 to 7 million jobs over the next three months. In Michigan, the industry supports nearly half a million workers, the majority of whom are now out of a job.

The fear is that the large corporate entities — the McDonald’s and Olive Gardens and Yum! Brands of the world — have an outsize influence in drafting legislation. The National Restaurant Industry often supports their interests at the expense of smaller operators who have limited lobbying power.

“When we get through this, I do not ever want to wake up in a city and not be able to go to a restaurant or coffee shop that is not locally owned by somebody from that community,” Davison said. “I don’t want to wake up in a world where all the restaurants in the country lie in the hands of just four or five national or international companies.”

President DonaldTrump reportedly held a call Tuesday to discuss COVID-19's impact on the restaurant industry but took heat from critics for excluding independent operators in favor of CEOs from the country’s biggest chains, despite the fact that more than half of America's restaurants are independently owned and operated.

"Small businesses & their employees are the backbone of our economy," Sen. Peters tweeted Saturday. "But right now they are being devastated by the Coronavirus pandemic. I spoke with Detroit small restaurant owners about their challenges. I’ll be working with them to ensure federal resources are there to help."

The call with Peters is just the beginning of a concerted effort of independent restaurateurs trying to be heard at a time when nearly everyone is hurting.

Friday, many of those on the call participated in an online awareness campaign called the Chef’s Call to Action with the hashtag #toosmalltofail, organized by Christine Cikowski of Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Chicago. At 11 a.m., social media feeds of food service folks were flooded with images of chefs and independent restaurant operators begging the public to get involved.

Additionally, a group of local chefs have written Gov. Gretchen Whitmer a letter, asking for the following:

Cash stimulus through expanding grants and interest-free loans, similar to those recently announced by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Payroll tax and sales tax abatements through 2020

Reduced payroll and sales taxes in 2021 for recovery

Suspending taxes on tip-based income

Income tax breaks based on re-hiring restaurant workers

Delaying regulatory fees for liquor, business, and food service licenses

Increasing unemployment benefits until workers are re-hired

Credits for small businesses that are providing health insurance and an expansion of Medicare coverage to hospitality workers during the crisis

Using mortgage or property tax forgiveness for landlords, provide mechanisms for rent abatement for the duration of the administrative closure and lowered rent through 2020

The chefs have set up a form letter for non-industry folks to get involved. Go to mirestaurants.wordpress.com for a template letter that you can sign and send to your representative to show support.

“Nobody is speaking for us, so we have to speak for ourselves,” Kim said. “The message is: 'We need help.' ”

Send your dining tips to Free Press Restaurant Critic Mark Kurlyandchik at 313-222-5026 or mkurlyandc@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MKurlyandchik and Instagram @curlyhandshake. Read more restaurant news and reviews and sign up for our Food and Dining newsletter.