SBA frustrations in Chanute

 

CHANUTE, Ks. – Greg Barnhart and his wife Sharon have owned and operated the Grain Bin Restaurant in Chanute, Kansas since 2006, and like a lot of restaurant owners, 2020 was their toughest year.

“Yeah, our business was shuttered 110 days in 2020, partially because of government mandates and some self-imposed mandates. We, like other businesses, had people that got sick,” said Greg.

COVID-19 was hard on the Grain Bin, but they were able to survive thanks to help from the Paycheck Protection Program.

Greg thought he’d also get a helping hand from the Small Business Administration’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund which was set up to help restaurants recover pandemic-related revenue losses, and initially gave priority to restaurants run by women, veterans, and minorities.

Greg says his wife Sharon, the majority owner, qualifies and that they were approved by the SBA. But as of now, they haven’t seen any funds and Greg isn’t thrilled with the explanation the SBA gave him.

“(The SBA rep’s) exact words were that there’d been a federal lawsuit filed, and our grant application was being held up because of such,” said Greg.

KOAM reached out to the Small Business Administration about the situation but didn’t get a call back.

But the SBA recently disclosed in a court filing in response to a lawsuit about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund that it’s not currently processing priority applications, meaning those filed by women, veterans, and minority groups.

The Grain Bin Restaurant may be back to serving a healthy crowd, but Sharon Barnhart says they could still use the Restaurant Revitalization Funds.

“Payroll and food orders are probably our two biggest expenses. So, if we don’t have our food, we don’t have a restaurant,” said Sharon.

Greg and Sharon say they think they’ll be ok, but are worried about other restaurant owners in similar positions who may not be so lucky.

“You know, I’m just more worried about the businesses out there from another state or wherever that just reopened, that may be sitting there waiting on this money same as I am, and they’re getting nothing. Somebody needs to figure it out,” said Greg.

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