A celebrity chef known for his participation in the hit series Top Chef emphasized the importance of Congress’s role Tuesday in addressing the future of restaurants in the United States as they face the coronavirus pandemic.
Chef Tom Colicchio, who recently warned that as many as 75% of all restaurants in the United States could permanently close, struck a more hopeful note Tuesday, telling CNN host Jim Sciutto that it is essential that Congress approve a stimulus bill to help the restaurant industry, which employs millions of people.
“We have razor-thin margins to begin with. It’s labor-intensive, and, you know, it’s gonna be tough to come back and rebound from this,” Colicchio said.
Colicchio, who has laid off 300 employees across seven restaurants since the outbreak began, backed attempts by Republican Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to broker a bipartisan bill that includes provisions for the nearly 25 million people associated with the industry.
“After listening to Leader McConnell, I feel a little better knowing that a bipartisan bill is gonna be passed, and we hope it includes help for the restaurant industry,” Colicchio said. “We employ 13 million people directly, and they want to know if they’re going to have paychecks. We want to make sure that if we receive money from the stimulus, 100% of that money will go to pay our employees, pay our suppliers, pay our rent, pay our utility bills.”
