What Restaurants Need to Know about PPP Forgiveness, Including Recent Changes 

Restaurants and retail are among the industries that have been most severely impacted by the current pandemic.  

While restaurants certainly include national chains, the majority in the US are independently owned and operated, including franchises.  Many have been passed down for generations.  Imagine a pandemic shut your entire business down and thinking, “this will be temporary... a few weeks,” as many restaurant owners believed in late February and early March.  I am not sure any expected to remain shut down almost four months later.  

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), passed by Congress on March 27, 2020, provided more than $2 trillion in relief for both companies and individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  One of the most popular provisions within the CARES Act was the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), especially for small business owners.  

PPP ForgivenessRules and limitations of the PPP included…