GRA Weekly | March 7, 2021

GRA Weekly

March 7, 2021

This week's newsletter is brought to you by the PepsiCo Stronger Together Initiative

PEPSI STRONGER TOGETHER + GRAF GRANT AWARD

The Georgia Restaurant Association Foundation has partnered with PepsiCo to award 4 deserving minority-owned Atlanta restaurants with a $10,000 grant for their dedicated work in supporting the community! Congratulations to GRA Member's - Scoville Hot Chicken, Slutty Vegan, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks and Slim & Husky's!

Tune-in to the NBA All-Star game on TNT at 8PM tonight (Sunday, March 7) to learn what makes these All-Star restaurants so deserving.

GEORGIA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

The Georgia General Assembly has completed 27 out of 40 legislative Days and will convene on Monday for Legislative Day 28 - Crossover Day. Crossover Day is the last day a Bill must be voted out of its originating chamber to be considered & voted on for the rest of Legislative Session. H. Here are some bills the GRA is watching:

SB 236 | Mixed Drinks To-Go: This bill would allow food service establishments to sell up 2 mixed drinks per entrée ordered for to-go or curbside pick-up. PASSED OUT OF SENATE 36-10. Will be sent to the house & most likely assigned to House Regulated Industries.

HB 112 | COVID-19 Liability Protections: This bill would extend COVID-19 liability protections to July 14, 2022 (1 year extension). The bill has been passed out of the House and is in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HB 265 | This bill updates the Internal Revenue Code back to January 1, 2021, which will include the amendments in the CAA to allow deductions for the expenses related to forgiven PPP Loan amounts. This bill has been passed out of both the House & Senate. It currently sits on the Governor’s desk.

HB 150 & SB 102 | Fuel Choice Bill: These bills would preempt local governments from banning certain fuels through building codes. The goal is to ensure restaurants will always have the choice on whether or not to use gas, electricity or other fuels inside their establishment. HB 150 has passed out of the house and is currently in Senate Regulated Industries & Utilities Committee.

WASHINGTON POST NAMES RESTAURANTS AS BUSINESS WINNERS IN STIMULUS PACKAGE

This morning, The Washington Post called out restaurants as one of the “business winners” in the stimulus package. The piece highlighted the success of the National Restaurant Association not only for securing a $28 billion restaurant-specific relief fund, but also our year-long effort on other relief tools such as creation of the Paycheck Protection Program, expansion of the Employee Retention Tax Credit, and defeating efforts to eliminate the tip credit.

These wins will benefit the entire restaurant industry, and represent our sustained commitment with our membership, our state restaurant association partners, and our grassroots network. We prevailed because we spoke with one voice. There is much more to be done, and we thank you for staying engaged on behalf of the industry.

The business winners in Biden’s relief package: Restaurants, concert venues and airplane manufacturers

From the The Washington Post:

“The restaurant industry emerged as the bill’s biggest private-sector winner. The package establishes a $25 billion ‘revitalization fund’ for restaurants that will dole out grants to help them cover pandemic-related revenue losses, with businesses eligible for up to $5 million each.

“Sean Kennedy, the National Restaurant Association’s vice president for public affairs, called the fund the ‘the culmination of a one-year effort’ to secure a dedicated pot of money for the sector. But it has racked up a series of smaller lobbying victories in pandemic relief measures, including a carve-out in the Payroll Protection Program that granted restaurants a higher loan limit than other businesses.

“In the latest bill, the restaurant group helped push for the expansion of a tax credit for companies that keep workers on their payrolls. And they lobbied against a federal minimum wage increase many Democrats wanted to include, endorsing the package once they were confident it would not include such a hike or end the tipped minimum wage.

“Kennedy said restaurants deserve the special attention. ‘No industry has lost more jobs and more revenue than restaurants,’ he said, pegging the sector’s revenue losses at $255 billion. ‘We were the first industry to be shut down, we’ll be the last to reopen, and we have a very long road to recovery in front of us.’

“The restaurant lobby activated its nationwide grass-roots network to push for final passage of the package, calling on restaurateurs to press their own lawmakers on the urgency of the need for aid. ‘Every member of Congress has their favorite place when they get home from Washington,’ Kennedy said. ‘Communities of every size have lost a beloved restaurant. Members see that, and we work off of that.’” Read the full article.

ERTC GUIDANCE FOR 2020 RELEASED

Good news for restaurants eagerly awaiting the opportunity to claim employee retention tax credits (ERTC) for 2020 – the IRS recently released its guidance for eligible businesses accessing up to $5,000 per employee in 2020 as long as it does not directly intersect with PPP payroll funds. Last week, the Association released the attached fact sheet on the ERTC to help members discuss this opportunity with their tax and accounting team.

The guidance in Notice 2021-20 makes major changes for those restaurants who accessed PPP in 2020, and permits many restaurants to access a credit is equal to 50 percent of qualified wages paid, including qualified health plan expenses, for up to $10,000 per employee in 2020. The maximum credit available for each employee is $5,000 in 2020.

Notice 2021-20 also provides answers to questions such as:

Who are eligible employers;
What constitutes full or partial suspension of trade or business operations;
What is a significant decline in gross receipts;
How much is the maximum amount of an eligible employer’s employee retention credit;
What are qualified wages;
How does an eligible employer claim the employee retention credit, and;
How does an eligible employer substantiate the claim for the credit.

NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION

Statement on CDC’s Association of State-Issued Mask Mandates and Allowing On-Premises Restaurant Dining with County-Level COVID-19 Case and Death Growth Rates

As vaccination rates continue to rise and indoor dining capacity in many states is increasing, it is critical that diners have reliable information about the safety of restaurant dining. The report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today is more an ill-informed attack on the industry hardest-hit by the pandemic than a reliable piece of scientific research.

In its own publication, the CDC notes numerous flaws in the report. First, although research models did control for mask mandates, restaurant and bar closures, stay-at-home orders, and gathering bans, the models did not control for other policies that might affect case and death rates, including other types of business closures, physical distancing recommendations, policies issued by localities, and variances granted by states to certain counties (some variances were not made publicly available).

As a result, the observed phenomena could be attributable to myriad variables.

Furthermore, correlation does not equal causation. For example, if a positive correlation between ice cream sales and shark attacks is found, that would not mean that ice cream causes shark attacks. For restaurants, customer behavior outside the venue remains the major contributing factor in COVID-19 transmission.

Second, the CDC did not measure compliance with and enforcement of safe operating policies. We still do not find evidence of a systemic spread of the coronavirus coming from restaurants who are effectively following our COVID-19 Operating Guidance, encouraging guests and employees to wear masks, social distance, and practice good hand hygiene. In effect, this lack of a direct correlation should be evidence that, when restaurants apply effective mitigation efforts, the transmission risk is low when dining outside or inside.

Finally, the analysis did not differentiate between indoor and outdoor dining, adequacy of ventilation, or adherence to physical distancing and occupancy requirements.

It is irresponsible to pin the spread of COVID-19 on a single industry. Restaurants have historically operated with highly regulated safety protocols based on the FDA’s Food Code and have taken additional steps to meet the safe operating guidelines required by CDC, FDA, OSHA, federal, state, and local officials during the pandemic.