To say that small businesses have rebounded from the pandemic wouldn”™t be precisely accurate ”” not only is Covid-19 still with us, but many small businesses didn”™t go anywhere.
But they are taking a more optimistic view, as warm weather means more outdoor dining for struggling restaurants, Connecticut”™s March 19 easing of Covid-related restrictions has allowed for greater capacity at many facilities, and getting vaccines into arms continues to increase.
“A lot of our clients are eager and ready to go back, full swing,” Joe Ercolano, state director of the Connecticut Small Business Development Center. Backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the center”™s mission is to enhance economic development through management and technical advice for small businesses.
Since March 6, 2020, the development center has helped small businesses receive more than $137 million in emergency and nonemergency funding, supported 34,451 jobs and helped 174 businesses launch, Ercolano said. Between that date and Feb. 28, 2021, counseling and training was provided to 4,960 clients ”” more than double what it had been doing.
The organization helped 1,420 businesses with emergency financing, totaling 700 emergency loans approved and $60.1 million in capital.
The group has also played a vital role in helping those businesses access the federal relief offered by such legislation as the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act.
“Through the assistance provided by technical resource partners like the Connecticut Small Business Development Center, over 80,000 small businesses were able to access approximately $11 billion (in federal emergency assistance) dollars,” Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman said in a statement.
The American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, includes, through the SBA:
Ӣ $7.25 billion additional for the Paycheck Protection Program, including to expand eligibility to additional nonprofits and digital news services. Additional funds are allocated for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, and now allows businesses to apply for both it and a PPP loan after Dec. 27, 2020.
Ӣ $15 billion additional for Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance payments, including new $5 billion for those hardest hit.
Ӣ $100 million to establish a Community Navigator pilot program; grants will go to eligible organizations supporting efforts to improve access to Covid-19 pandemic assistance programs and resources.
Ӣ $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund for industry-focused grants.
The last point has been critical to what is generally agreed to be one of the industries hit hardest by the pandemic. According to Connecticut Restaurant Association Executive Director Scott Dolch, more than 600 restaurants and caterers have closed during the pandemic, with another 300 shuttering temporarily.
But the situation is also looking brighter for that sector, as Connecticut restaurants were allowed on March 19 to return to full capacity, although mask requirements and social distancing mandates remain in effect.
“Restaurants are the cornerstone of every community, which is why precisely one year into this pandemic, so much of the struggle across Connecticut has been felt personally and at the local level,” Dolch said. “We were committed to standing next to local restaurants thought this crisis. We worked closely with our partners at the National Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to advocate for relief programs, and that work laid the foundation for our efforts with the Governor and legislators to help secure a variety of options and support for Connecticut restaurants.”
Earlier this month, the restaurant association received a $500,000 grant from DoorDash to launch the CT Restaurant Relief Fund through its foundation. Over 92 restaurants have already received $5,000 grants and the fund continues to generate additional funding.
And early in the pandemic, the association”™s foundation launched the $165,000 CT Hospitality Employee Relief Fund, which provides $250 to $500 stipends to hospitality employees around the state. The organization noted that the United Way and many Connecticut breweries have provided additional funding options for employees in need.
“We”™ve lost 110,000 restaurants nationwide to the pandemic so far,” Tom Bené, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association and CEO of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, said in a statement. “But the combined efforts of the innovative and hard-working restaurant owners and employees in every community, along with these many accomplishments, may have kept our losses from being far greater.”
While the association does not expect the industry to fully recover this year, it and its state association partners “will continue to aggressively pursue the necessary resources to rebuild the industry,” Bené said.
The Great Pivot
Restaurants suddenly having to consider adding curbside delivery and reconfiguring their outdoor dining options were not the only small businesses forced to make changes. Fresh Green Light, a driving school with locations in Greenwich, Darien, Wilton, Fairfield and Westport, suddenly had to live up to its “reinventing drivers”™ ed” motto like never before, owner Steve Mochel told the Business Journal.
“On March 17 of last year the state shut us down, understandably,” Mochel said.
With that shutdown came the laying off of all 45 staffers, but Mochel said that attending a New Canaan Chamber of Commerce meeting gave him hope.
“One of the (Small Business Development Center”™s) members was there to walk us through the PPP process,” he said, “which was so helpful to all of us. What”™s remarkable in hindsight is that we were up and using that funding within weeks, which was a godsend for us.”
Fresh Green Light also changed to being more of an e-learning concern, Mochel said, after he and a group of other driving school owners contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles, which gave its permission for the industry to offer what had been classroom-based driver instruction online.
Utilizing a team of UConn School of Business graduate students, hired by the development center with awarded CARES Act funding, and guided by Michelle Ouimette, business adviser and UConn Business adjunct professor ”” along with business adviser Steven Semaya ”” the firm was able to capitalize on a white paper called “Online Learning: Methodologies, Challenges and Best Practices,” which outlined best practices in that area.
“I think the students are a little more engaged (with online classes) and their parents definitely are,” Mochel said. “They”™re peeking over their kids”™ shoulder and asking questions the kids might not think to ask.”
In-car classes were allowed on June 20, with the by-now standard Covid-mitigating practices in place. The 90-day backlog resulting from the March 17 to June 20 ban was finally overcome this past January, Mochel said.
Meanwhile, Demetrius Glover, owner of wellness and community-building event company SolHaus in Stamford, has also made a pandemic-mandated pivot ”” and grown his business exponentially.
“We started about a year and a half ago,” Glover said, “so with Covid, doing meditation and live entertainment at company events became difficult.”
Again with the help of the business development center, SolHaus was able to take advantage both of the first round of PPP (“There was a lot of confusion,” Glover said. “I spent hours on the phone with my CPA.”) and the second round.
“Now we”™ve been able to work with global conferences, a lot more quickly than we”™d anticipated,” he said. “We”™re working with executives and leaders of employee resource groups with some very big companies.”
For all of its increased presence, the development center is still under-recognized in some quarters; Mochel said he was unaware of the group until that fateful New Canaan Chamber meeting. “They”™re very smart, experienced business consultants,” he said. “Plus the fact that it”™s free is crazy.”
Ercolano said a number of factors played into that low profile, including a general lack of funding for advertising and marketing ”” 80% of its budget goes toward helping people ”” and the fact that many tend to discount organizations that are touted as being “no-cost and confidential.”
“That doesn”™t convey the depth of professionalism and experience of the people we have here,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ercolano expects the development center”™s number of events and advisory sessions to decrease ”” and that, he said, is a good thing.
“Helping our clients through an emergency like this has been unbelievably rewarding,” he said. “But when people find that they need help, they can find it here.”
