, Shake Shack has roughly $100 million in cash on hand. The company had qualified for the loan because they have roughly 45 employees per location , which is how many other major chains received funding, too.
There was no mention of whether Union Square Hospitality, which Meyer says closed all its restaurants in March and laid off more than 2,000 workers, would be returning its loan as well.In their letter, Garutti and Meyer called on the Small Business Administration to add more funding to the program. "We are an industry of 660,000 restaurants with nearly 16 million employees," they wrote.
, "By returning our $10 million, that $10 million can go back into the pot and go to the people that deserve it. We hope it can go inspire the next round.", for which he tapped exclusively chain restaurant CEOS and a handful of fine-dining chefs.