Visiting Zinc, Blumenthal Vows To Deliver Restaurant Pandemic Relief

Donna Curran, owner of Zinc Restaurant across from the Green on Chapel Street, received word in May that she was getting federal pandemic assistance — and then a month later a letter arrived basically saying, ​“Never mind.”

Like restaurateurs across the nation, Curran had applied for help through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Her approval came on May 12. Then last week came a cancelation letter.

She’s not alone. One of her U.S. senators, Richard Blumenthal, popped by the restaurant Friday afternoon to say he’s on the case.

The SBA program sought to award as much as $10 million per restaurant business and up to $5 million per location to restaurants, caterers, and food trucks based on Covid-19 pandemic-related losses. The SBA also pledged to prioritize women, military veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged groups as recipients.

The $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund has nearly run out, with $27.5 billion already distributed as of last week. Additionally, three restaurants in Tennessee and Texas sued the SBA for ​“discriminatory” distribution by prioritizing restaurants owned by minorities, women, or veterans, thus halting thousands of applicants.

In Curran’s letter, the SBA told her that while her award was suspended, she is still in the queue. She said it wasn’t clear if her grant was halted because the obligated funding dried up or because of the lawsuit.

During his visit Friday, Blumenthal discussed new legislation to fully fund the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Blumenthal is working in support of a bipartisan bill introduced on June 10 to replenish the program with an additional $60 billion.

“When the money goes back into the program, you’ll be in the same part of the line,” Blumenthal told Curran. ​“I’m hopeful that once the program has more money, they’ll just go ahead with this restaurant and many others around Connecticut.”

Curran said Zinc sales were off $1.3 million from one year to the next due to Covid-19.

“After 22 years, it’s disheartening. We’re back to startup stage where you’re waking up in the morning and checking your bank account looking to see if you have enough money to make it,” Curran said.

In mid-March, Curran had to close Kitchen Zinc, which was behind Zinc and focused on artisanal pizzas. ​“It’s too difficult right now to have two full-time staffs at two different places,” she said. For now, Curran is unsure about reopening Kitchen Zinc: ​“We’re gonna see what happens.” Click here to read a story about how she kept the main restaurant afloat during the pandemic.

Curran toured Blumenthal through the restaurant, kitchen, garden, and outdoor dining space in the back.

With the grant money, Curran said, they were planning to break a hole in the wall where Kitchen Zinc was to add more outdoor dining space. ​“We want to activate the space and add some street life.”

Zinc New Haven Executive Chef Alex Blifford greeted Blumenthal in the kitchen. He said making it through this winter was ​“extremely difficult.”

“We’ve really just tried to survive on doing to-go food, doing family-style takeout meals, just doing everything we could to keep our costs as low as we could. Thankfully through the PPP program [the Paycheck Protection Program], we were able to survive until things started to relax and people started to come out.”

Blifford said customers coming in for graduations and Mother’s Day helped boost business.

“It’s nice of the senator to take some time out, come down here and speak with people like us to understand what we’ve been doing on our end to stay here,” he said.

“Restaurants have been particularly hard hit,” Blumenthal noted. ​“Six hundred have closed, and they have expenses even when they’re shut down. They have to pay rent and pay staff. We’ve got a couple of grants under the Paycheck Protection Program, but this is really necessary work.

“We’re nearing the end of the marathon. We’re recovering the country from the pandemic, but restaurants still have hurdles before they can get there.”

“It’s just now a question of how to do it, which is not a small question.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is a co-sponsor of H.R.3807, the House version of the bill to increase appropriations to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

“Connecticut is home to some of the best restaurants in the world. Restaurants like Zinc in New Haven did everything right with respect to this process, and due to circumstances out of their control, they are now left out in the cold,” DeLauro stated. ​“These establishments are an integral part of our community, and as Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, I will fight to keep their doors open.”