CT restaurant group calls for creation of Covid-relief grant program

The Connecticut Restaurant Association (CRA) is calling on the state to create a grant program designed to help restaurants that have been financially impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont and the state”™s legislative leaders, CRA Executive Director Scott Dolch stressed that more than 600 Connecticut restaurants, caterers and event venues have closed since the pandemic began and predicted “many more are likely to shutter in the weeks and months ahead.”

Scott Dolch Connecticut restaurant association
Scott Dolch. Photo by Phil Hall

Dolch added that Connecticut received nearly $1.4 billion in funds from the federal CARES Act, noting that “hundreds of millions of which remains unallocated.” He pointed to restaurant grant programs set up in the District of Columbia, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island and Ohio as providing “a lifeline to thousands of local businesses struggling to remain open right now” and urged Connecticut to follow this example.

“Even if CARES Act Funds might not be an option, we know the administration has brought up the Rainy Day Funding as a potential option to help these small businesses,” Dolch stated. “The ”˜Connecticut CARES”™ program, while very well intentioned, simply pales in comparison to what others states are doing ”“ Connecticut must do more if we want to save our restaurants.”

Dolch also urged state leaders to allow indoor dining to continue and to offer a greater level of confidence in the local industry by citing the “great efforts restaurants are making to stay safe, and to remind the public ”“ and one another ”“ that local restaurants are predominantly small businesses owned by and employing local community members.”

The CRA request follows the closing of Wahlburgers at the Westfield Trumbull Mall. The Connecticut Post reported the restaurant has ceased operations, three years after it became the first Connecticut location for the chain created by actors Mark and Donnie Wahlberg and their family.

Its departure leaves The Cheesecake Factory as the only full-service restaurant within the mall, which has also seen the recent closings of longtime food court staples Chiang Mai Thai and Popeye”™s Louisiana Kitchen.