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(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Social media perked up over the past few days on the news that a number of biggish, publicly traded restaurant chains managed to snare millions in government aid for small businesses that more modestly sized restaurants and vendors missed out on.
Public outrage about this dumpster fire is useful and welcome. It’s also occasionally been misplaced. But it’s founded on the all-too-obvious fact that the White House and Congress lined up $349 billion for entrepreneurs and unloaded that vast pile without properly planning or managing how they would dole it out — and apparently without prioritizing which businesses should receive it. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s team left banks in the dark about loan terms, business owners weren’t sure how best to apply for funds, the online application process was chaotic, more well-heeled businesses probably found their way to the front of the line, and there were strange regional disparities in funding (just look at this map).
Then poof, lucky winners of the aid lotto claimed all those billions in just two weeks. The White House hasn’t provided a full accounting of where the money went or the logic determining who got it. By the time we find out, it is likely to have been spent. Never fear, the federal government is set to approve another $350 billion in small-business funding, possibly as soon as today.
Small businesses — especially the employees who work for them — need this support. It’s unlikely that the broader economy can recover without breaking entrepreneurs’ freefalls. It’s also possible that $699 billion and counting won’t be enough to heal Covid-19’s economic wounds. Still, the money is moving through the pipeline, and common sense should be used in spreading it around. That brings us back to one of the targets of social media scorn on Friday night: Shake Shack Inc., the ubiquitous burger chain Danny Meyer founded in 2001.
Meyer is one of America’s most gifted and conscientious restaurateurs. His holding company, Union Square Hospitality Group, owns a collection of acclaimed eateries in New York City that includes Union Square Café, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern and Maialino. He began assembling all of that in 1985, when he was 27....