Slapfish Restaurant Group CEO Andrew Gruel assesses Governor Newsom’s call to lengthen California home stay requests and their impact on small businesses.
Since California went into blockade to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 last March, many of the state’s “non-essential” companies have risked operating underground to try to stay above water.
Dozens of companies in Los Angeles alone have been accused of violating Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Safer at home” order.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has accused dozens of companies of violations, including car washes, tobacconists, beauty supply stores, massage parlors, nail salons, animal groomers and an Egyptian artifact store.
CALIFORNIA LOSES HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS IN 2020
The owners of a massage company in the bay area made the decision to reopen underground after 93 days without income, telling Cal Matters that it was about paying “the fine or we can’t pay our mortgage”,
Business owners who decided to go underground took discreet measures to stay out of the authorities’ radar.
A pet handler in California told Politico in November that she meets clients in an alley, then takes her dogs through an entrance that says “closed due to the coronavirus”.
A tattoo artist told Politico that he returned to commit only in his living room and keeps the lights off and the curtains closed when working with a client.
It is not just fines that these clandestine business owners face. The mayor of Los Angeles said in a recent “Safer at Home” decree that “individuals, businesses and properties that do not comply with this Order may be subject to having their public services shut down by the Department of Water and Energy”.
CORPORATE RESIDENTS FROM CALIFORNIA FORWARD THE WAY TO BUSINESS FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES
Small businesses received some help from the government.
The Treasury Department has just revived the Payment Check Protection Program almost half a year after the end of the financing. Companies with fewer than 300 employees who have experienced at least a 25% drop in quarterly revenue can borrow up to $ 2 million, and loans can be forgiven if 60% of the money is used for payroll.
This help has only been so far for many companies.
“That amount of money came in and covered the costs for a month,” said the owner of the massage business to Cal Matters. “With the PPP loan, you had eight weeks to use these funds for payroll and utilities … It felt like I gave myself a big raise, but it just kept me afloat during those months that I was left behind.”
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97,966 small businesses closed permanently last year due to COVID-19, according to a Yelp economic impact report.
More will close as the pandemic continues to devastate California and the rest of the country. California registered 22,972 new cases and 593 deaths on Friday, bringing the state total to more than 3 million cases and 36,361 deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.