Landry’s CEO Warns Of Closing Restaurants Should NYC Have To Shut Down

Landry’s CEO and chairman Tilman Fertitta, speaking on CNBC, said he thinks anyone operating a restaurant in New York City is likely in danger of going out of business, particularly if things have to shut down again due to the coronavirus.

“Anybody with a restaurant in New York, full service, casual dining [at 25 percent capacity], is going to go out of business,” he said. “It’s really a shame because people have taken years and years to build these restaurants up.”

Fertitta, who has restaurants in 40 states, said he wasn’t worried about his businesses, but said New York restauranteurs are “in for the long haul.” He blamed government officials who didn’t seem to realize the plight of those working in retail and restaurants during the pandemic.

“They get their paychecks every single week,” he said. “They don’t realize these cooks, waiters, hostesses … how difficult it is when you’re not going to get a check … and you don’t get that $600 from … the government anymore.”

In Fertitta’s opinion, the effects will likely continue to worsen the longer the pandemic goes on. The effects are already being felt as people stay home and tourism stays down.

Fertitta said he hoped future stimulus efforts would help “everyone,” including bigger business owners who weren’t supposed to get Paycheck Protection Program funds, he told CNBC.

“I definitely want to take care of the small mom and pop businesses, take care of airlines … But you can’t keep people out like me. I’m a 100 percent owned family business and don’t punish me because I’m big, and I provide [60,000] jobs out there. Because I can’t make a 60,000 payroll if they shut us down again and I don’t want to lay my employees off again. So there’s got to be something that treats everybody.”

He said the future of financial aid needs to be more widely available.

“The government definitely needs to come in and help everyone,” he added. “But it should be for all employees, all businesses, especially restaurants and retail. And don’t look at ownership. Make the money go to employees; don’t look at ownership.”