By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau will distribute 33 state-funded grants to local restaurants totaling nearly $469,500 to provide relief from a spike in unemployment costs that happened because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The visitors bureau and state Rep. Maurice West announced the grants on Monday at 27 Aluna, 124 N. Main St., a downtown restaurant that was among the recipients of the grants. The first round of the funding, which totaled exactly $469,475.35, was open to restaurants in Winnebago County.
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The grants are meant to help restaurants recoup money they lost when unemployment insurance rates skyrocketed because of layoffs made during state-mandated health restrictions amid the pandemic.
The state had frozen such increases during its lockdowns to protect business owners from paying higher rates due to layoffs caused by the pandemic. However, that freeze ended before restaurants in this area of the state were allowed to fully reopen.
“We were just following the rules,” said Patrick Alberto, the owner of 27 Aluna. “For us to get this high unemployment tax rate is honestly undeserved and should be corrected as soon as possible.”
Alberto said that 27 Aluna’s rate went from 0.65% to 2.75% in the year after the pandemic. Then it rose again to 6.75% and up to the maximum 8.65% this year. That costs restaurants tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. Franchesco’s Ristorante, for example, saw its payments rise from roughly $9,000 a year to $90,000, the restaurant’s general manager said earlier this year. The Norwegian saw its rates increase from the minimum to the maximum, costing the restaurant upward of $70,000.
“Some people had to take out loans, that includes us, just to stay afloat,” Alberto said. Some of the loans “were unforgivably high, but some of them had to do it because they worked so hard to get where they’re at that they didn’t want to roll over and close it up because of something out of their control.”
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Restaurants such as The Norwegian, The Olympic Tavern and Lucha Cantina started sounding the alarm about the spike in rates in August 2022. West initially searched for a fix in Springfield, but when there wasn’t an appetite to get legislation passed he worked to secure the grant funding.
“Honestly, a lot of other restaurants didn’t even know that it was happening to them. They were just paying their payrolls as if nothing happened,” Alberto said.
The grant was put into the state budget 11 months ago and the applications opened in February.
“We have learned a lot about how the state of Illinois unemployment insurance system works in this process,” said John Groh, president and CEO of the visitors bureau. “I can see why restaurateurs have experienced a lot of pain and anguish trying to decipher a really complicated system.”
Grant amounts
The awards ranged from $298 to Marc’s Fusion Cafe to $80,010 for Prairie Street Brewhouse. In total, 25 restaurants received grants under $10,000, according to the visitors bureau, which was the agency that oversaw distributions on behalf of the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Four restaurants received grants ranging between $10,001 to $50,000 and four received awards of more than $50,000.
“Our restaurants are the heart and soul of our communities, providing not just meals but also employment opportunities and gathering spaces,” West said. “They’re the meeting places for families and friends looking to reconnect, they employ thousands of workers who can in-turn support themselves and their loved ones and they provide the culture and character that makes the Rockford area so special.”
The grant dollars will be used to repay loans or refund amounts business owners had to pay above and beyond what other sectors had to, Groh said.
“Each will be able to do with this funds what they will, and I know they be putting them into good use based on their own unique needs,” Groh said.
Unemployment insurance rates are determined by a formula that accounts for total wages and unemployment claims, among other factors. In its simplest terms, businesses with more layoffs pay a higher rate. Those high rates can last for three years before declining back to where they started, so long as no other layoffs are made in that time.
There will be two more rounds of grant funding available. The next will open in July for unemployment payments made to the state for the first and second quarter of this year. The next will be in January for payments made in the last two quarters of 2024.
This year’s recipients will start receiving payments from the grants on Friday, either picked up in person at the visitors bureau or via mail.
Recipients
- 27 Aluna
- Abreo Restaurant
- Alchemy at Aldeen
- Alpine View Restaurant
- Culver’s of Winnebago
- District Bar & Grill
- Dusty Boots Saloon & Eatery
- Famous Dave’s Rockford
- Franchesco’s Ristorante
- Golden Gorral
- Greenfire Restaurant & Bakery
- Hoffman House
- Hope & Anchor English Pub
- J.W. Marc’s Fusion Cafe
- Johnny Pamcakes
- LimaMar Restaurant
- Lucha Cantina
- Mulligan’s of Rockford
- Murphy’s Pub & Grill
- Onyx Bar & Grill
- Oscar’s Pub & Grill
- Prairie Street Brewhouse
- Scanlan’s
- Stockholm Inn
- Stockyard Rock Burger Bar (now Half Baked)
- Tad’s Bar & Grill
- Tavern on Clark
- Thai Hut Restaurant
- The Filling Station
- The Norwegian
- The Olympic Tavern
- The Pomodoro
- Vintage @ 501 (now Taco Libre)
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas