Kura Sushi

Kura Sushi (Japanese: くら寿司, Hepburn: Kura zushi) is a Japanese sushi restaurant chain.[1][2] It has 451 locations in Japan, 22 in Taiwan, and 24 in the United States.[3] While it is a conveyor belt sushi chain, it relies on a high level of automation allowing the average location to function with fifteen to twenty staff members.[4]

Response to COVID-19

During the coronavirus pandemic, the company received $6 million in forgivable loans intended for small businesses from the Paycheck Protection Program.[5] The funds were distributed as part of the government's $2.2 trillion CARES Act and intended to benefit workers at employers with fewer than 500 employees that are unable to obtain credit elsewhere.[5]

The loan was returned immediately.

At the company’s website, the CEO explains as below.

Dear Friends,

When we made the decision to close all of our stores on March 18th, we didn’t furlough anybody – in fact, all employees stayed on at full pay. We did this before the Paycheck Protection Program existed, and before we knew government aid of any kind would be coming. Our decision was based on doing what was right by our employees, and all of our decisions since have been in service of this same goal.

It soon became clear that the pandemic was going to last longer than anyone had initially expected. On April 4th, we made the extremely painful decision to furlough a portion of our employees. We kept on our remaining staff at full pay, and to-date have retained roughly 65% of our entire workforce at full pay.

When the CARES Act and PPP loans were announced, we were very excited. Receiving a loan not only meant that we could continue to keep paying the remaining staff on payroll, it meant that we could also rehire all of the employees that had been furloughed. We never considered how intense the competition for the loans would be and applied for one immediately, so that we could continue paying our employees even though all of our stores were closed. We were genuinely excited for all restaurants – more restaurant jobs were lost than in any other industry, and this was great news for everyone in our industry.

Very early in the CARES Act, there’s an explicit exemption in qualification criteria for businesses with the North American Industry Classification System code 72 – accommodation and food services. Given that this was an explicit change from previous SBA criteria, we and others interpreted this as a deliberate effort by lawmakers to further support the restaurant industry, whether you have one or multiple restaurants. With the Paycheck Protection Program, we assumed all restaurant employees would be able to continue being paid, regardless of where they worked, and that the funds would be enough for everyone. This was a wrong assumption.

Today, we made the decision to return our PPP loan. This was a difficult decision because our employees are extremely important to us, but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that our finances allow us to weather financial hardship for a longer period than independent restaurant owners. We hope that these funds will be shared equitably among deserving candidates.

Sincerely,

Jimmy Uba President and CEO https://kurasushi.com/

See also

References
  1. Gahōsha, Jiji (2001). Pacific Friend. Jiji Gaho Sha, Incorporated. pp. 12–13. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  2. "Kura plans more sushi restaurants in Taiwan". Nikkei Asian Review. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  3. "ir_20_02_18month" (pdf). kura-corpo.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  4. Hiroko, Tabuchi (2010-12-30). "For Sushi Chain, Conveyor Belts Carry Profit". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  5. O'Connell, Jonathan (20 April 2020). "White House, GOP face heat after hotel and restaurant chains helped run small business program dry". The Washington Post. Retrieved 20 April 2020.


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