we welcome chef thomas keller.hef keller, welcome good to have you with us >> thank you very much it's great to be here. sorry about the timing but happy to be part of this >> how are you holding up? >> it's difficult. we have laid off or furloughed over 1200 employees. it's difficult a lot of them are counting on paycheck from week to week to support themselves and their family it's difficult situation that's probably my biggest concern. second to that is making sure our restaurants are able to survive through this time and reopen we can't survive and reopen then there's no knobs for our team to come back to those are my two most important aspects that's going on at this moment >> what have you done, if anything, to soften the blow of those 1200 employees who you had to furlough? >> we will continue to offer them their health benefits that's going to be good for them they have that we're starting with what we're calling a soup kitchen in one of our restaurants that will be able to help feed them through this time.

so, finally, thomas keller, your restaurant employees, what are they doing right now?of work, all of them customers to go there out of works. work. we have had to furlough, lay off 95% of them. want to make sure that they have health benefits going forward. we are not sure how long that can last. we want to make sure that they are protected in case that could happen. this could go on indefinitely. we don't really know how long this could go on. what can we do as restaurant chefs? we can help feed our communities. that's one thing we are doing in our small town. we have a small kitchen that we operate out of. we are feeding our staff, giving them free meals. of course, the community. we are really concerned about our team, our staff, making sure that they have a job to come back to. and that's the most important thing, that the restaurants survive so that our team can come back and go back to work. >> tucker: the government has got to support these people in some way. we are out of time. i'm really grateful you came on tonight and explained that. i think most people may

great restaurant tours you know as is eon george and thomas keller and daniel bellew and other leaders in the restaurant business which has been probably one of the hardest hit industries i have directed my staff to use any and all authority available to give restaurants bars clubs incentives to stay open you're going to lose all these restaurants and they're not going to make it back and they have to get going so what i'm doing is i'm going to tell. secretary minucci an and also our great secretary of labor you know very well to immediately start looking into the restoring of the duct ability of meals and entertainment costs for corporations that set the restaurant business back a lot when it was done originally and then done not so long ago and we're going to go to deductability so that companies can send people to restaurants. i think will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open and don't forget some are closing right now despite the fact that they could be open in the not too distant future we expect that but there are some that are going to be able to get open and we wan

john george, thomas keller, leaders in, other the restaurant business, which has probably been one of the hardest hit industries. i have directed my staff to use any authority to give restaurants, bars, clubs incentives to stay open. they have to get going. secretary,to tell also great secretary of labor, -- looking into the deductibility of meals for corporations. set them back a lot when it was done. i think it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. some are closing right now despite the fact that they could be open in the not-too-distant future. at thegoing to look restoration, the deductibility of meals and entertainment so that they can send people to restaurants and take a deduction like in the old days. the financial relief bill i signed on friday provides historic relief for american workers and small businesses, and includes $350 billion in job restoration and retention. if you look at job retention loans for small businesses, that is a big deal with loans available for businesses that continue paying the workers. john retention loans for small businesses tha

he is a great restauranteur as you know as is thomas keller and other leaders in the restaurant business, which has been probably one of the hardest-hit industries. i have directed my staff to use any and all authority available to give restaurants, bars, clubs incentives to stay open. you are going to lose all these restaurants, and they are not going to make it back, or they have to get going. so what i'm doing is i'm going to tell secretary mnuchin and also our great secretary of labor, who you know very well, to immediately start looking into the restoring of deductibility of meals and entertainment costs for corporations. that set the restaurant business back a lot, when it was done originally and then done not so long ago. and we're going to go to deductibility so company cans send people to restaurants. i think it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. some are closing right now, despite the fact they could be open in the not-too-distant future. we expect that but there will be some that won't be able to get open and we want to make sure they do. we're going to lo

wolfgang puck is a great restauranteur as you know,s is a john george, and thomas keller and daniel balou and other leaders in the restaurant business, which has been probably one of the hardest hit industries. i have directed my staff to use any and all authority available to give restaurants, bars, clubs incentives to stay open. you are going to lose all of these restaurants and they are not going to make it back. they have to get going. so what i am doing is i am going to tell secretary mnuchin and also our great secretary of labor who know very well to immediately start looking into the restoring of deductibility of meals and entertainment costs for corporations. that set the restaurant business back a lot when it was done originally, and then done not so long ago. and we are going to go to deductibility so that companies can send people to restaurants. i think it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. don't forget some are closing right now despite the fact they could be open in the not too distant future, we expect that. but some aren't going to be able to get opene

wolfgang puck is a great restauranteur, as you know, as is jean george and thomas keller and daniel balance you and leaders in the restaurant business, which is probably one of the hardest hit industries. i've directed my staff to use any and all authority available to give restaurants, bars and clubs incentive to stay open. you're going to lose all these restaurants and they're not going to make it back. they have to get going. so, what i'm doing is i'm going to tell secretary mnuchin, and also our great secretary of labor, who you know very well, to immediately start looking into the restoring of the deductibility cost of meals and for corporations. that set the restaurant business back a lot when it was done originally and then done not so long ago, and we're going to go to deductibility so that companies can send people to restaurants. i think it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. don't forget, some are closing right now, despite the fact that they could be open in the not-too-distant future. we expect that, but there are some that aren't going to be able to get ope

wolfgang puck is a great restauranteur, as is thomas keller, other leaders of the restaurant business, which has been probably one of the hardest-hit industries. directed my staff to use any and all authority available to give restaurants, bars and clubs incentives to stay open. you will lose all these restaurants, and he will not get them back. so what i'm doing, i'm going to tell secretary mnuchin and also our great secretary of labor, who you know very well, to immediately start looking into the restoring of deductibility of meal and entertainment costs for corporations. that set the restaurant business back a lot when it was done originally, and then done not so long ago, and we're going to go to deductibility so companies can send people to restaurants. i think you will have a tremendous impact, and maybe keep them open. don't forget, some are closing right now despite the fact they could be open in the not too distant future, we expect that, but there are some that aren't going to beale to get open and we want to make sure they do, so we are going to look at the restoration, res

puck, a with wolfgang great restaurant tour, as is thomas keller and daniel ballou and other leaders in the restaurant business which has been one of the hardest hit industries. i've directed my staff to use any authority available to give restaurants, bars, clubs incentives to stay open. going.ve to get what i'm doing is i'm going to tell secretary mnuchin, also are great secretary of labor who you know very well to immediately the restoringinto of deductibility of meals and entertainment costs for corporations that set the restaurant business back a lot when it was done originally and not so long ago. we are going to go to deductibility so that companies can send people to restaurants. it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. some are closing right now. despite the fact that they could be open in the distant -- in the not-too-distant future. there are some that are not going to be opened and we want to make sure they do so we are going to look at the restoration , restoring the deductibility of meals and entertainment costs so that corporations can send people to

he is a great restauranteur as you know as is thomas keller and other leaders in the restaurant businesswhich has been probably one of the hardest-hit industries. i have directed my staff to use any and all authority available to give restaurants, bars, clubs incentives to stay open. you are going to lose all these restaurants, and they are not going to make it back, or they have to get going. so what i'm doing is i'm going to tell secretary mnuchin and also our great secretary of labor, who you know very well, to immediately start looking into the restoring of deductibility of meals and entertainment costs for corporations. that set the restaurant business back a lot, when it was done originally and then done not so long ago. and we're going to go to deductibility so company cans send people to restaurants. i think it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. some are closing right now, despite the fact they could be open in the not-too-distant future. we expect that but there will be some that won't be able to get open and we want to make sure they do. we're going to look

the thomas keller group has been fighting this on the behalf of the restaurant but that is one of thethat we are looking at. that will help us all in the long term there. so we are looking at short-term and long-term asks. we are excited to see a lot of the stimulus packages addressing these things but there is still a long way to go. >> you know what, it would be such a heartbreak for every business owner and the community to lose this many restaurants that are struggling. tell me about your restaurant. what are you doing? i have seen so much innovation with local restaurants trying to stay afloat and do what you can to keep everyone in business. >> i went from baking for local coffee shops to turn my business upside down and delivering pastries to whoever will buy them and delivering them to hospitals, local law enforcement and firefighters to move some of the extra inventory that we have as well as trying to help those on the front line. so we really have brought things back to life with a catering contract for a local senior home. so we are cooking 600 meals for seniors over the n