After 2 weeks of paying employees, largest Hilton Head restaurant group furloughs 800
When Gov. Henry McMaster’s order on March 18 shut down dine-in service at restaurants, one of the largest restaurant groups on Hilton Head Island was able to continue paying partial wages to its hourly employees while other workers across the state faced layoffs and furloughs.
But after two weeks of paychecks using fundraising dollars, the Southeastern Entertainment Restaurant Group (SERG) “won’t be able to do that again,” according to president Alan Wolf, and now 800 workers are on furlough.
The money was raised through a VIP package program, where a portion of the proceeds went to local charities and the rest went to filling the paychecks of its restaurant employees. The program’s goal was to fund one month of employee income by raising $1 million through 10,000 packages sold. So far, SERG has raised $300,000 with 2,000 packages sold.
Employees were paid $10 an hour for the average number of weekly hours they worked from Feb. 12 through March 10. While it is a step up from South Carolina’s $2.18 per-hour minimum for wait staff, a server working 40 hours a week earned $400 for the week, a substantial decrease for those reliant on customer tips.
Wolf said the packages paid for a week and a half of paychecks from SERG for the past two Fridays. SERG paid out $185,000 total in income each week. Wolf said those paychecks likely won’t happen again, though furloughed workers will continue to have benefits and can come back when restaurants re-open.
The CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion economic relief package passed by Congress, will provide South Carolina with close to $2 billion, according to an analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. In the Act is the Paycheck Protection Program, which lets the Small Business Administration provide 100% federally backed loans that are forgivable if a business keeps 100% of its employees on payroll for eight weeks.
Wolf said SERG has applied for the program, though he said it is not tenable for the restaurant-model as SERG cannot guarantee everything will re-open after eight weeks. With 1,200 total employees, SERG exceeds a traditional small business, but each of its 16 restaurants is independently owned and operated.
Eight SERG restaurants remain open for takeout service, with a “handful of staff” at each.
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