Independent Restaurant Coalition
The Independent Restaurant Coalition is a US trade group formed during the COVID-19 pandemic by independent restaurateurs and chefs. During the pandemic the group lobbied local, state and federal governments for relief after their businesses were closed by government mandates to slow the spread of the virus. Their aim was to mitigate the impact of the closings on independent restaurants. Multiple prominent chefs and restaurateurs formed the leadership team. Background. According to the IRC, independent restaurants represented 4% of the US GDP and employed 11 million workers at the beginning of 2020. The US has 500,000 independently -operated restaurants. History. The coalition got its start during the pandemic after state and local governments started shutting down restaurants and bars to slow the spread of the virus. SoHo restaurateur Camilla Marcus "saw a press conference from the White House that mentioned bailouts for industries that don’t employ one percent of what we do as an industry," which she found "infuriating". She contacted other restaurateurs and chefs. In mid-March, US President Trump held a conference call with restaurant industry representatives, but included only representatives of large national chains, causing further concern among the independents. Later Trump downplayed  a report by the National Restaurant Association which estimated that as many as 11% of independents could close down permanently within 30 days, saying "they’ll all come back in one form of another. Might be a different restaurant. But it’s going to be a great business for a lot of people. IRC co-founder Tom Colicchio described the two incidents as "a call to action" for independents. By March 30 the group hired a lobbyist. In addition to Colicchio and Marcus the leadership team included Suzanne Goin, Mike Lata, Patrick Phelan, Adam Saper, Michael Shemtov, Nancy Silverton, Frank  Stitt, Caroline Styne, Sam Kass, Kevin Boehm, Donnie Madia, Erika Polmar, Naomi Pomeroy, Andrew Carmellini, Andrew Zimmern, Ashley Christenson, Marcus Samuelsson, Will Guidara, Steven Satterfield, Sean Brock, Bobby Stuckey, Kwame Onwuachi, Nick Kokonas, and José Andrés. Mission. The initial goal was to secure financial and legislative protections for restaurants and their workers. After the federal government passed the CARES Act the group said the bill's primary provision, the Paycheck Protection Program, did not help independent restaurateurs. At the end of April the group called for a $120 billion fund for small and independent restaurateurs, asking congress to exclude  publicly-traded restaurants and large restaurant chains from accessing the fund.