A new petition that’s quickly gathering signatures is asking New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and other officials to help ease the financial burden the state’s restaurants and small businesses are facing.
Specifically, the petition is asking for New Jersey to suspend payroll and sales tax for all of 2020. The idea is, by relieving the small businesses of these payments, they will be better able to cover their more essential costs like rent, supplies, rehiring, utilities, and the costs of reopening.
The current shutdown has wreaked havoc on small businesses and restaurants. Currently, restaurants can only offer pick up or delivery, both of which, even in good times, are not very profitable, even less if ordered through a delivery platform (Uber Eats, Seamless, Grubhub, Etc).
Combine that with the overall reduction in demand as many people are concerned deliveries can spread the virus and many restaurants are choosing to close completely.
Even large restaurant corporations are struggling to weather the storm. The Cheesecake Factory made headlines this week when the sent letters to their landlords announcing the will not be paying rent on April 1st.
