millionsed down and 15 people who work in restaurants, up to 15 million have been collecting unemployment insurance already. so, that's a good chunk of the nearly 40 million people who apply for unemployment insurance. so, business has been devastated. billion, the businesses estimating they will lose a good queue hundred 50 billion to three and $50 billion this year, and that may be conservative. host: looking at them information from the american restaurant association, to put that in stark terms, april's eating and drinking sales of $32.4 billion was the smallest 2005 inince march, nominal terms. however adjusting for inflation, consumer spending at eating and drinking places plunged to the lowest level since october,

1984. changeover to take out and delivery helped some of these restaurants at all? or is it causing them to cost even more just to stay open? guest: that has been a big debate, and you could argue that allowing these companies doing takeout and curbside service is kind of a lifeline, they are on life support, their limping along and all those kinds of medical metaphors and it's true. on the other hand, you've got six costs and variable costs. your rent inre your utilities, variable cost our employees. down, i mean,ut there's a lot of calculus. i talked to restaurant owners who are going through this. a lot of them, it sort of speaks to your mindset. if you really want to do this, a

lot of people are really trying to stomach this and use the loans, we will talk about that in a little bit. , andy to figure out a way a lot of people want to maintain their customers. andt of customers are loyal trying to help out their favorite restaurants by getting takeout. just keeping a little bit of the business going just so you can see over the hill of the promised land. now, what type of help is needed for restaurants to survive this? i already brought up the ppp loans, but first of all, did that help them enough, and what should come next, if anything? think everyone agrees, even politicians agree that it hasn't been enough. it is just so much money. it's crazy. but there are so many restaurants, there is so much money.

$900 billion. think how much of that is going away and how many people, how many americans work in restaurants. those millions and millions of people. yes, the cares act came out and restaurants begin applying for ppp. but it has run its course and now, 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. some people are suggesting another $1 trillion. and then, of course, there's all sorts of debates about the length of time for the program, that restaurants are arguing that they need this to be extended because it was only an eight week program and what you really want to do is keep your employees paid, so you want a lot more time than that. there's a lot of nuts and bolts that the industry is arguing about right now, lobbying work

in washington, d.c. last point, a the lot of restaurants are having difficulty getting the money, which a lot of other small businesses are contending with as well. going to the bank, making sure they're getting paid and cutting through the paperwork. and one more point, we've seen a lot of the larger restaurant becauseake these moneys if you do a small amount of business at a specific restaurant, you are eligible to get this money through the sba mechanism, the smaller business portion of the ppe cares act. a lot of of people are saying that's unfair. you saw a company like shake shack return the money back because it's such a large national chain, a public company that should be able to get money from other sources. now, let's let our viewers take part in this conversation. upare going -- going to open regional lines again.

eastern and central time zones, if you want to talk about the future of the restaurant industry, (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 going on at your place, we want to know how you are surviving this, have you had to close down? are you reopening? the special line for restaurant owners and workers, that's going to be (202) 748-8002. keep in mind you can always text and we're) 748-8003 always reading social media and twitter and on facebook. so, andy, there are a lot of restaurant customers like myself

who say we are not going to dine in again until we are sure we are going to be safe. how can restaurant owners convinced diners like me to come back into their places of weiness and make sure that are going to be confident that we're going to be safe? first of all, let me speak to what is going on in the country a little bit. politically, you're seeing a lot of high-profile events on tv where protesters are in state capitals and in some instances, in front of restaurants saying take america back, open up america, we want her freedom. to be sure, there are people who have that sentiment. and that is a certainly legitimate perspective. that is not the majority of this country. the majority of this country, people are cautious, they want to take things slowly.

on both sides of the counter, which is to say restaurant workers and customers , want to take it slow. and there's no reason to want to rush back at a restaurant and sit cheek to jowl with people you don't know over a hamburger that you could get takeout, delay it for a month or so. i want to go on my soap box for a second. people are saying how hard this is, and it is really difficult, particularly if you own a small business, and i really feel for those people. the customers, i feel a little less sympathetic for. i'm reading a book about world war ii, and what the people had to go through in world war ii, years and years and years of hardship and sacrifice. go to yourt restaurant for a few months, maybe even six months, it's not that big a deal. i understand your sentiment is i want to go to the restaurant to help my friends and neighbors who run the restaurant. right on, i agree completely.

do takeout and wait for things to come back. you are starting to see restaurants in certain states reopened. stateth carolina, the reopened in certain places yesterday. tables sixeans is feet apart, servers wearing masks, hand sanitizer at every table. constant cleaning of public spaces, mostly dining outside. that's what going on in north carolina. washington state, same kind of ink. 50% capacity, six feet apart. you are starting to see counties in the western part of the state, also more of the rural areas and the eastern part, there's usually a four phase reopening plan. this is kind of that phase two. we will see if this is going to lead to another surge of the virus. if it doesn't, more counties

will open up and we will move to phase three to counties that have opened up according to phase two. but people need to understand, it's just not worth it to be able to sit at a restaurant if you are going to get people around you sick or if you're going to get sick, and people need to know that. host: let's bring in some of our viewers, let's start with lou from california. lou works a restaurant. caller: good morning, sir. napa, at a restaurant in i'm a professional accordionist, i thin with the restaurant -- good morning. host: we can hear you, go ahead. caller: i'm a professional accordionist at the restaurant. for 18 years. and we opened up our dining room and patio wednesday of this past week. in downtown napa. and we are doing real good.

pandemic, we were to go only. curb service or delivery. , we are back in business, and i start back on wednesday night of this week. all employees, we are all having masks and everything is to the t. so i'm excited to be back. host: go ahead. guest: that is a great story and i'm glad to hear that. i know the city of napa, i haven't been to that restaurant but i know the city pretty well, obviously it's a lovely place and a beautiful part of the country. and it's great to hear that kind of story that here is a restaurant that is reopening and the accordionist is going to be back next week, people wearing masks, people respecting each other, sounds like you got some distancing going on. so let's take things slow like that.

i'm just glad to hear that he was able to keep his job, and i'm sure there was a lot of hardship during those two months, but goodness knows it is worth it. statistics show that about 50% of new restaurants fail in their first year. and that was before the pandemic. what is going to be the impact on any new restaurants, mom and chain restaurants, open in the future? >> it's going to be really rough. as you suggest, it is a brutal business to begin with, and a lot of people come into this business saying i want to open up a little restaurant. well, it's not so easy. on the one hand, it's a very curious in, that most people just don't understand what it takes. obviously it is grueling. you've got to be there every day, even if you are close, maybe you can take a sunday off.

so, there's that. on the other hand, the magic of the restaurant and the restaurant business, if you have a good idea, this is the old ,aying about new york city there's always room for a good new one. because if you come up with a great idea, that is a huge plus. there's always two parts, strategy and execution. you got to have a great idea, and then there's the execution which includes location, which includes managing your payroll, which includes sourcing your food. there is a lot to it, but this coronavirus is going to wipe out a lot restaurant. that new the case restaurants will be founded coming out of this disaster, that someone starts a taco truck that does delivery, it does really well, and they are going to get funding and they will

become the next great restaurant. the one thing that concerns me is that the big will survive, the chains that we talked about that can access the capital market with such a huge advantage and we will lose a lot of the mom-and-pop stores that i of talking about, the 99% restaurants. we will lose this regional authenticity and all we will have our national chains. that's an exaggeration, but they will be advantaged, and that's too bad because we could arguably lose some of our regional flavorings, pun intended. we are kind of under assault by the national chains before we went into this. host: to talk to a restaurant owner in maryland. keri, good morning. caller: good morning, it's actually terry with a t. host: sorry about that. caller: no worries, but i really appreciate you doing this segment. bought ad and i restaurant about eight months ago, nine months ago, just

starting to get into the rhythm, and then covid-19 happened. trying to do the best we can for our employees, we applied for the paycheck protection program and we got approved and they give us the money. however, and i think everyone realizes how this got rolled out, i now get the money deposited in my account and i have to start paying my employees with that money today through the next eight weeks. that doesn't do me any good because i'm not open. i need that money once i open again, when i'm trying to ramp up my business again with social distancing and having a small amount of people. is there any kind of thing on the horizon about, i know i've heard that they want to add funding or do another stimulus for the paycheck protection plan , to maybe dish out some more,

but we are in a position where i'm going to have to return this money. employees bring my back off unemployment when they are making more money on that, and then force them out of unemployment when they don't take it. i guess that's my comment. is there something coming that would say, hey, keep the money and hold onto it until you open, and then i would need that salary because in going to have a minimal amount of people coming in, so, less income. terry, if i can jump in, that's exactly some of the problems we've been hearing about across the board. the intention, i think, of the ppp program or the money had to be paid to the employees over eight weeks obvious he was, well, that is going to do the greatest amount of good. announcer: we take you live now l for thel hil inspector