This week, my wife Dot and I pulled into the small parking lot of a recently opened doughnut shop, owned and operated by a young couple who, at least until the coronavirus pandemic struck, were living out a dream. After picking up our order, their story had me thinking even more about the plight of other restaurant operators, like my granddaughter and her husband.
You see, there were few surprises when the Bureau of Labor Statistics report for March indicated that 701,000 workers had lost their jobs that month and that the restaurant industry was especially hard-hit. It just so happened that the troublesome news was unveiled on April 2 — right at the time when the month’s rent was due to be paid by restaurant operators as well as countless others.
At the end of the month, 90% of us were affected by stay-in-place orders in one way or another, and most restaurants, bars, and other public gathering places were shuttered to varying degrees. Across the nation, small eateries whose owners previously figured out how to stay open and make a living in a tough, competitive industry, had to lay off hardworking help and try to find a way to pay the rent. The BLS report tells us that of the 701,000 workers who received March pink slips, about 446,000 had been employed in accommodations and food service. According to some reports, restaurant sales were down 47% nationally between March 1 and March 22.
This was a stunning decline for an industry that already operates on a weak foundation of thin margins and excessive debt. Many of the distressed owners were looking for help wherever they could find it. And quite understandably, with federal assistance being arranged for taxpayers, business firms, holders of student loans and others, and with the rent due, many people appealed for rent forgiveness or delay.
The appeal was received sympathetically in some places. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert issued an order allowing Utahans directly hit by the coronavirus emergency to defer rent payments until May 15. Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler asked that the state and federal governments offer some form of rent forgiveness. But the appeal also generated an outcry from another group of people: property owners who make their living by renting to others.
When considering the national data, it’s easy to become captured by its unparalleled magnitude and forget that each and every data point is associated with real people, like members of our families, friends, and neighbors. My interest was prompted by a very personal concern: My granddaughter and her husband are caught in a small restaurant/coronavirus policy struggle.
Their small Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant, now in its second year of operation, is closed. Like many other struggling operators, they are working mightily to expand their takeout business. Meanwhile, the April rent must be paid.
We had gotten to know one of the pair who operates the doughnut shop when he, waiting tables at a local restaurant, told us about his dream. Like countless others, they had worked three jobs, saved, leased a good spot to operate, and then renovated the space themselves. We stopped by for carryout service and to check on how they were doing. His partner, a young woman, exclaimed with a huge smile on her face: “We are blessed. We got a call from a local church today. They are concerned about local small business operators who may be struggling and wanted to help. They offered to pay this month’s rent for us. We are in dreamland.”
We were amazed and pleased that a local church would choose to pay the rent of a struggling business. Out of curiosity, I called the church office to thank them and to see if I could learn more about their efforts. “Yes,” the person I spoke with said, “We have a committee that meets every week to consider the plight of people in our town. Sometimes they need groceries. Sometimes it’s help with prescriptions. And sometimes it’s rent.”
This reminded me of another time of struggle, when an aspiring president said that the nation’s problems and pains would be partly relieved by the efforts put forth by individuals and charitable and religious organizations — by “a thousand points of light” that shine across our great nation. That was George H.W. Bush in 1988.
We are now engaged in a long and difficult struggle that makes us increasingly aware that it will indeed take federal, state, and community assistance to carry us forward. Another thousand points of light could surely help.
Bruce Yandle is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a distinguished adjunct fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and dean emeritus of the Clemson University College of Business & Behavioral Science. He developed the “Bootleggers and Baptists” political model.
