idea, so it came about they would take a trip once a year if they could, but with a little better planning so disaster would be less looming. announcer: sunday night on c-span's q&a. the editorack with in chief of yahoo! finance. we will spend this last half hour talking about the future of the restaurant industry. good morning. >> good morning. >> what has been the impact of the coronavirus impact on the restaurant industry? guest: it has been devastating. right after the cruise lines and airline business, restaurants and bars have been hurt the most. and it is a very different kind of business from the two i mentioned, the cruise ships and airlines, which are very concentrated. with restaurants, i mean, you

have millions of restaurants ou t there. of sales forion these companies. family-ownedre with less than 50 employees. and the great majority of them have been closed down. million people who work in restaurants, up to 15 million have been collecting unemployment insurance already. thehat is a good chunk of nearly 40 million people who have applied for unemployment insurance. so the business has been devastated. of that $900 billion, the businesses estimate they will lose about $300 billion this year. that could be conservative. host: looking at information from the american restaurant association, this puts it in stock terms. of 32.4 billion

dollars was the smallest volume since march 2005. however, adjusting for inflation, consumer spending at eating and drinking places plunged to its lowest level in april since 1984. to takeoutnge over and delivery helped some of these restaurants at all, or is it costing them or to stay open? guest: that has been a big debate. you could argue allowing these companies, or these companies doing curbside service and take is kind of a lifeline, they are on life support. they are limping along. all those kinds of medical metaphors. it is true. on the other hand, you have got fixed cost into variable cost. you have rent and utilities. variable cost would be employees.

if you just shut down, it is because of cost. there is a lot of calculus. i speak with restaurant owners going through this, and it speaks to your mindset, if you want to really do this and plow through, people are trying to really stomach this and use the sort of trying to figure out a way. a lot of people want to maintain their customers. a a lot of customers are trying to help their favorite restaurants by getting takeout. and just keeping a little bit of the business going, so you can see over the hill the promised land. help isw, what type of needed for restaurants to survive this? i know you already brought up all,pe loans, but first of did that help them? did it help them enough?

and what should come next? guest: i think everybody agrees that it has not been enough, even politicians. it is just so much money. it is crazy. there are so many restaurants. i talked about the $900 billion and how much of that is going away. and how many people, how many americans work in restaurants. that is millions of people. yes, the cares act came out and restaurants began applying for the ppp. but, you know, it has run its course. and now we are looking to add more funding to it. there is a bill right now going through congress. they have looked to vote on it, but they were unable to vote on it before the recess this weekend. so some people are suggesting another trillion dollars. and then there all sorts of debates about the length of time for the program. that restaurants are arguing

they need this to be extended because it was only an eight week program. what you want to do is keep your employees paid, so you want more time in that. there are nuts and bolts that the industry is arguing about right now, while being for in washington. and the last point, a lot of restaurants are having difficulty actually getting the money, which other small businesses are contending with as well. going through the bank, making sure that they are getting paid and cutting through the paperwork. one more point i should add, we have seen larger restaurant chains take the money, because if you do a small amount of business at a specific restaurant, you are eligible to get this money through the smaller business portion of the ppp cares act. you saw shake shack, which initially took the money, return the money back because it is such a large, national chain and

a public company that should be able to get money from other sources. host: let's let our viewers take part in the conversation. we will open up regional lines again. if you are in the eastern and central time zone and you want to talk about the future of the restaurant industry, we want you to call at (202) 748-8000. if you are in the mountain and pacific time zones, and you want to talk about the restaurant industry, we want to hear from you at (202) 748-8001. and we are going to open up a special line, i really want to hear from the restaurant owners and workers. we want to know what is going on at your place. we want to know how you are surviving. have you had to close down? are you reopening? a special line for restaurant owners and workers. that will be (202) 748-8002. you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. and we are always reading on

social media on twitter and on facebook. facebook.com/c-span. there are a lot of restaurant customers, like myself, who said we are not going to dine in again until we are sure we are going to be safe. how can restaurant owners convince diners like me to come back into their places of business and make sure that we are going to be confident that we will be safe? guest: excellent question. let me speak to what is going on in the country a little bit. politically, you are seeing a lot of high-profile events on tv where protesters are in the state capitals, and in front of restaurants in some instances, saying take america back, open up america, we want our freedom. there are people who have that sentiment. and it is a legitimate

perspective. that's not the majority of the country. in the majority, people are cautious, they want to take things slowly and polls show us that people on both sides of the counter, restaurant workers and owners and customers, want to take it slow. there is no reason to rush back jowl witheek to people you do not know over a hamburger you can get very takeout. for takeout. i want to get on my soapbox for a moment. this has been really difficult if you own a small business or restaurant. i really feel for those people. the customers, i feel a little bit less sympathetic for. i am reading a book about world war ii. i am on the coast of maine. look people had to go through

for world war ii, years of sacrifice. if you cannot go to your restaurant for a few months, maybe even six months, it is not that big of a deal. if your sentiment is i want to go to help my friends and neighbors who run the restaurant, support that business, right on. so do takeout and we for things to come back. now, you are starting to see restaurants in certain states reopen. in north carolina, the state reopened in certain places yesterday. and what that means is the tables are six feet apart, servers wearing masks, and a sanitizer at every table, constant cleaning of public spaces, mostly dining outside. that is what is going on in north carolina. washington state, same thing. 50% capacity, six feet apart. and you are straining to see counties in the western part of the state, also the rural areas, not king county with seattle -- there's usually a four phase

reopening plan. so this is kind of a phase two. we will see. we will see if this will lead to another surge of the coronavirus. if it doesn't, more counties it will open up and we will move on to phase three. but people need to understand, it is just not worth it to be able to sit at a restaurant if you were going to get people around you sick, or if you are going to get sick. and people need to know that. host: let's bring in the viewers. we will start with lou from california. he works in a restaurant. caller: good morning. napa. at a restaurant in and i'm a professional accordionist. i have been there -- good mo rning. host: we can hear you. caller: i am a professional accordionist.

i have been with the restaurant for 18 years. and we opened up our dining room and patio on wednesday of this past week in downtown napa. and we are doing real good. during the pandemic, we were orders to go only. the curbside service or delivery. and like i say, we are back in business. business. and i start back on wednesday night. we all have masks. and everything is to the "t." so i am excited to be back at the restaurant. guest: that is a great story. i am so glad to hear that. i know the city of napa. i have not been to that restaurant. napa is a pitiful part of the country. isn't that great to hear that kind of story, that here is a

restaurant reopening and the employees, even the accordionist will be back next week. people are wearing masks and respecting each other. it sounds like there is distancing going on. let's take things slow like that. i am glad to hear that he was able to keep his job, and i am sure there was a lot hardship in those two months. but goodness knows it is worth it. show 60% of new restaurants fail in their first year. that was before the pandemic. what is going to be the impact on getting new restaurants, mom and pop and chain restaurants open in the future post pandemic? guest: it will be really rough. it is a brutal business to begin with. and people come into this business and they say, i want to open up a little restaurant. it is not so easy. on the one hand, it is a curious

thing because most people fail, they do not understand what it takes. obviously, it is grueling. you have to be there every day. even if you are closed, you know, sunday, you can take a sunday off but the margins will not be as good. so there is that. on the other hand, the magic of a restaurant in the restaurant business, and bars too is if you have a good idea -- this is the old ceiling -- saying about new york city, there is always room for a good restaurant. because if you come up with a plus idea, that is a huge right there. there is a strategy and execution. you have to have a great idea and then there is the execution, which includes location, managing your payroll, which includes a your food. -- sourcing your food. there is a lot to it.

the coronavirus will wipe out a lot of restaurants. it may be the case that new restaurants are founded coming out of this disaster, that somebody starts a taco truck that does delivery, curbside and does really well and holy smoke, they will get funding and become the next great restaurant. the one thing that concerns me is the big will survive, the chains that we talked about that can access the capital markets, they have such a huge advantage. and we will lose the mom and pop stores, the 99% of the restaurants. so we will lose regional authenticity and it we will just have national chains. that is an exaggeration, but they will be advantage. and that is too bad because we could lose at some of our regional flavorings, pun intended, which we are kind of under assault by the national chains, well, before we went into this. host: let's talk to carrie, a restaurant owner in maryland. caller: good morning. it is actually terri.

i really appreciate you guys doing this segment on restaurant owners, especially small businesses. my husband and i bought a restaurant about nine months ago. it just started to go up. we just started to get into the rhythm. it is a live music, bar venue. and then covid-19 happened. so trying to do the best we can for our employees. we applied for the paycheck protection program. and we got approved and we received the money. however, and i think everybody realizes how this got rolled out from the federal government, i now get the money. and i have to start paying my employees. with that money, today, for the next eight weeks. let does not do me any good because i am not open. i need that money once i open again. when i am trying to ramp up my business again using social distancing and using a smaller

amount of people. is there any kind of thing on the horizon in d.c., or somewhere, i heard they want to do another stimulus for the paycheck protection plan to maybe dish out some more. but i am going to have to return this money. i cannot bring my employees back, take them off unemployment where they are making more money, and force them out of unemployment when they take it. is there something coming that would say, no, keep the money and hold on to it until they open -- you open. then i will need that salary because i will have a minimum amount of people coming in, less income but the ability to pay my staff. guest: if i can jump in, that is exactly some of the problems we have been hearing about across-the-board. and the intention i think of the ppp program where the money had to be paid to the employees over eight weeks, obviously was, that

will do the greatest amount of good. in other words, these people, rather than just giving it to you, just one person, we will give it to all of these people. well, there was not a lot of thinking that went into it. yes, there is unemployment for those people on the one hand. although not everybody is eligible in terms of restaurant employees. so this may be was better in that sense. but to your point, what the politicians have discovered is that exactly the problem you're describing, which is, then where is my capital to reopen? billi mentioned in the new that is in congress right now being hashed out, that is specifically a part of the new legislation, which is these restaurants need actual capital because when we start to not flip the switch, because it will not be binary, but we will slowly open depending on the state you are in -- are you able

to open at all? host: she has already moved on. guest: ok, so anyway, you can see that it is complicated. the bigger point is it is a very complicated situation. and having the federal government just going boom with a large amount of money is good, but all of a sudden when you get to the front lines of the business it is like, that does not quite fit. host: we have a question from one of our social media followers, who wants to know, what do you think or under what conditions should restaurants returned to 100% capacity? guest: yeah, the governors of the states have these plans and a lot of it has to do with the flattening of the curve. they are looking at real data and they are trying to see when the rate of new cases is starting to decline and they are correlating the programs with that type of thing.

and that is actually being calibrated on new data coming in, so as they open into phase one and two, which is to say the 50% reopening of restaurants -- we will stick with restaurants -- and the six feet apart, then they see if there is going to be a new wave that has hit the state or specifically counties where they have gone into a phase two. if they start to see the curve trend up again, they will rule -- roll back to phase one. if they see the curve flat and they will go to the next phase. i would anticipate in certain counties in the u.s., we could get to a phase four fairly quickly. they have to be pretty isolated and rural places without any regional spread there. and also fairly isolated with not a lot of people coming in and out. host: let's get a few more callers in.

we will start with susan: from massachusetts -- calling from massachusetts. caller: hi, what you said about the world war ii generation, my father was part of that. and a bunch of different families had all moved in together into a baltimore rowhouse because of the depression, then they lost or their family business to prohibition. so i can attest that what my parents went through is frankly nothing compared to this. although this is brutal. aboutam very concerned the future of retail and in the restaurant business, especially independent restaurants and bars, for the next four or five years. i think it will be just obliteration of such a major part of our economy. and may betake out

moving to outside dining -- i am a new englander. i will sit outside in a parka and have a meal outside if i have to, but i am so frightened. and i was a member of the -- gang, i believe in universal bubble -- public income. and when i see these crazy mismanaged loan packages, i am wondering, given the looming end of retail as we know it, the weth of malls, whether should consider moving toward universal basic income. love andrew -- i yang, humanity forwarded. host: go ahead and respond. guest: it is great to hear somebody talk about the yang gang. i find it interesting, so thank you for talking about that. this is where everybody would get a guaranteed payment from

the government. people laugh about this, or they left about a year or so ago. this is ridiculous, this is socialism. they are not laughing anymore. essentially, what we are doing right now is a form of universal basic income, although to what the caller said, it is extremely inefficient. so why not just get down to it and really start paying people directly from the government. oh, that is terrible, it will make people not behave well. it will make people survive and it will help the economy. so i think that is something worth thinking about. bars, as restaurants and i do not disagree. i think that these places are under a tremendous amount of pressure. and it will be years going forward. one thing we have not talked about his people really being very innovative. and that involves municipalities, too. i am up here in maine. rocklin is closing down the main

street, so they can expand the dining outside. so closing it off the cars, so it becomes pedestrian only. so you are hearing about innovative programs. what else can restaurants and ensure that to these businesses stay open and people stay safe? could we turn an old warehouse that is not being used into a municipal place, restaurants with wide social distancing. what else? shouldn't we do universal basic income? all these things. we need a tremendous amount of thinking. host: let's get one more before the end of the show. aron inll be a philadelphia. caller: good morning. hi, thank you for having me. host: go ahead. a quicki wanted to have

comment. since my restaurant has been closed at the beginning of march, not only have i been trying to reach out to my tryingte staff, but also to get in contact with not just my staff, but also their families. thinkof times, i especially now what is overlooked is the ramifications. not just the restaurant employees, but how it trickles down to the rest of our economy. aviously, with money being little bit short right now and us finding different ways to be able to socially distance, especially once we reopen, to be safe and able to make a living, i think that there has to be more plans in place, especially when it comes to a restaurant. heard somebody

before talk about how we are in limbo right now from a dying industry, with everybody using hub, otherrub platforms we can get meals delivered to your door. i think that there are millions of people who are going to suffer. and they are not going to be able to provide some of the basic things that they had been providing for for maybe 20 or 30 years. host: we have to cut it off. let see if you can respond. is the restaurant industry a dying industry? guest: no, it is an industry under siege. it is temporary. it is under a lot of pain interest right now. people who persevere will survive. big companies will survive a little bit easier than the small ones, unfortunately. so the small ones have to try super hard and they need help from the government.

i think it will change the business dramatically. but if people keep their nose to the grind stone and have faith and work hard, and get help, i think that >> we would like to thank andy, editor in chief of yahoo! finance for talking about the fu ♪ c-span's washington journal live every day. , the status of ,he paycheck protection program designed to help businesses keep their workforce. , chapman university and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

washington journal every sunday, join the discussion. , thee communicators digital competition and why google has betrayed the internet. by interview was conducted an antitrust reporter for .olitico > this trafficring to itself and stifling innovation. consumers are not getting access to the best information across the internet. communicators on c-span two. connecticut senator murphy spoke in a virtual conversation on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic globally. dea s moderated by hauer