Fogo means “fire” in Portuguese and, well, Fogo De Chao is now the latest big restaurant to come under fire for applying for a taxpayer-backed PPP loan. We now know the privately held Brazilian Steakhouse received $20 million worth of PPP loans that were meant for actual small businesses.
Related: BIG Companies Got Loans Meant For Real Small Businesses And It’s A Slap In The Face
Fogo De Chao Got $20 Million PPP Loan Meant For Small Businesses
When the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) officially launched on April 3, small businesses across America began applying in droves to secure much-needed funding so their business would survive the coronavirus shut down.
The program was so popular in fact that it ran out of money less than 14 days later.
The 100% forgivable taxpayer-backed loan was supposed to be a a life-line for small businesses, providing funds to cover payroll, employee healthcare, and rent…as long as recipients kept their employees on staff.
What many small business owners and even everyday Americans didn’t know was that a life-altering paragraph had been slipped into the CARES Act at the last moment that gave hotels and restaurants special consideration which would ultimately make it absolutely impossible to compete with them.
Though the 100% forgivable taxpayer-backed program was designed for businesses with fewer than 500 employees, restaurants and hotel operators could apply even if they had 20,000 employees–as long as they didn’t have more than 500 employees in one location.
It was that one seemingly small change and massive amount of GREED that ruined and flat-out KILLED small businesses across the United States overnight.
Massive Companies Wanted A Piece Of The Small Business Pie Too
Greedy executives, lawyers, and CPAs got to work applying for these Small Business Administration loans as soon as the doors opened April 3 to get their piece of the American pie.
$349 BILLION in economic relief was set aside for small businesses to help them weather the storm and it’s INFURIATING to learn that giant corporations and public companies received funding while real small businesses–and their employees–suffer mercilessly as a result.
In less than two weeks, the PPP ran out of money, leaving millions of legitimate small businesses out of luck.
Small Businesses Suing Chase, Other Big Banks For Shuffling Loans So They Would Make More Profit
Fogo De Chao CEO Doesn’t Give A Shit About What You Think
It has now come out this week that while mom and pops shutter their doors, huge companies with MASSIVE annual revenues applied for and received the Small Business Administration loans instead.
Shake Shack made headlines when CEO Randy Garutti announced they would be immediately returning their $10 million PPP loan due to public backlash.
Ruth’s Chris Hospitality Group, which owns Ruth’s Chris Steak House, received $20 million in PPP loans by securing not one, but TWO, PPP loans–one for each subsidiary. There is now a Change.org online petition to get Ruth’s Chris to return the loan and so far it has gained 200,000 signatures.
Other massive restaurant chains and hotels have also secured funding, and you can read about it HERE.
We have now learned that privately-owned Brazilian steakhouse chain Fogo de Chao also got $20 million in taxpayer-backed PPP loans. The Plano, Texas based investor-backed company did this by securing two $10 million loans, according to National Restaurant News.
The last annual revenue information we have for Fogo de Chao is annual sales of $314.4 million in 2017. The high-end restaurant chain is estimated to have around 40 restaurants in operation at the beginning of 2020. The $20 million PPP loan is supposed to be used to keep employees on staff for 2.5 months. You do the math.
Since they are a private company, they are not required to disclose this information to the public, but here’s what Fogo de Chao CEO Barry McGowan told the Wall Street Journal when questioned about the loans:
“The scale of our business doesn’t matter,” Barry McGowan, CEO of Fogo de Chao, told the Wall Street Journal “All of our restaurants count.”
Basically, Fogo de Chao CEO Barry McGowan just told America to eff off because it doesn’t matter that his business is BIG…also known as “scale” in corporate-speak.
And this is how the CARES Act effectively killed America’s small businesses.
Lawmakers are expected to reach an agreement on approving over $310 billion more of PPP. Big businesses should think twice before they apply. Hell is getting pretty hot and Fogo is stoking the fire.
Fogo De Chao Got A $20 Million PPP Loan And CEO Doesn’t Give A Shit
Fogo de Chao is the latest big company to receive public backlash after taking $20 million PPP loans away from America’s small businesses.
Here’s More on Metroplex Social:
- BIG Companies Got Loans Meant For Real Small Businesses And It’s A Slap In The Face
- Shake Shack Is Returning Their $10 Million PPP Loan
- Chase, Other Big Banks Getting Sued For Shuffling PPP Loans To Make More Profit
- Live Nation, Ticketmaster Now Refunding Tickets: Here’s What We Know So Far
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