Isaac has come and gone. Now what?

Hurricane Isaac has passed and in its wake left massive power outages and flooding to areas in Southeast Louisiana. What it meant for restaurants with no power for many days was lost profits and products. In the worst cases, flooding and wind damage, compounded with lost profits and products.

If you have yet to re-open, here are a few suggestions to get you started.

• Write down what you need to do and secure to get your restaurant back open, even if for limited hours.
• Determine the total amount of lost business income.
• Identify all of your financial obligations, including suppliers, loans and pay
• If available, gather your past year business records, sales and projected profits to build your case for what you’ve lost due to interruption.
• Document your facility damage and your lost inventory. 

The Louisiana Restaurant Association is here to help and assist you in whatever why you need during this time of recovery. We have resources and consultants available to provide guidance as you work to regain a sense of normalcy for your business.

If you are in need of assistance to advice the local media of your status, we are able to assist in this capacity as well.

Business Recovery Centers opening for Isaac victims

The Louisiana Restaurant Association (LRA) has many members that were impacted by Hurricane Isaac’s vicious flooding and massive power outages. We are pleased to share that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the La. Dept. of Economic Development (LED) and the La. Small Business Development Centers (LSBDCs) are opening three centers to assist with storm related impacts to business owners. Additional centers will come on line in the next few days.

Centers are opening beginning Sept. 7
to assist businesses impact by
Hurricane Isaac.

“Some of our member restaurants were located in the areas most impacted by Hurricane Isaac,” said Stan Harris, LRA President/CEO. “These centers will provide much needed resources for the restaurant owners in areas like Manchac, Madisonville, Mandeville, LaPlace, Slidell and in Plaquemines Parish who sustained significant damage from the storm as they work to recover losses and rebuild their businesses.”  

Centers are located in Plaquemines, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, St. John and St. Tammany Parishes. Specialists from the SBA and LSBDCs will be available to meet individually with each business owners. SBA customer service representatives will be available to meet individually with each business owner to explain how an SBA disaster loan can help finance their recovery.