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Chicago area restaurant owners ask for government funds to save their businesses
Chicago area restaurants say they are in crisis mode and may not be able to survive the winter. Now, they are calling on Congress to throw out a life raft before it's too late. Jim Romas, who owns Citrus Diner in Westmont, joined FOX 32 to talk about it.
CHICAGO - Restaurant owners are pushing for federal money to save their businesses and millions of jobs.
On Monday, restaurant leaders delivered letters to Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, Governor JB Pritzker, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Specifically, they want $48 billion by this weekend.
Celebrity restaurant owner Rick Bayless joined Good Day Chicago this morning to talk about what might happen if there is no help.
"Everyone will tell you that during the last three or four months we've seen our business fall off drastically. And the only thing I can really trail it to is the omicron virus. And I have talked to every single restaurateur that I can find to ask them what they're going to do, or how they can survive, and there are so many of them right now that are telling me they won't be able to make it through the winter," Bayless said.
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Chef Rick Bayless talks about the plight of struggling Chicago restaurants during Omicron
Restauranteur and chef Rick Bayless sounds the alarm on the state of Chicago's restaurant industry still suffering from the Omicron variant.
The Chicago Restaurants Coalition says Bayless received more than $3 million of government funding to keep his restaurants afloat.
Local restaurant owners want the additional $48 billion in funding to go the 177,000 restaurants who did not get bailout grants last year. They say those restaurants provide about 2 million jobs.