New Mexico Restaurant Association calls for state relief after pandemic-related shutdowns

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- New Mexico lost 18 percent of full-service restaurants between December 2019 and December 2021, according to the New Mexico Restaurant Association.

The association says small businesses were negatively impacted by COVID-19 enforcement measures that were enacted by the state to combat the disease.

The NMRA is asking the state legislature to help 930 restaurants, bars, and other venues that can prove their pandemic-related losses with a state relief fund.

“The fund would help those businesses still struggling to make it through these hard times. The pandemic isn’t over for these folks. The state that asked them to close their doors for the good of the community should feel a responsibility to step up and help,” said Carol Wight, CEO of the New Mexico Restaurant Association.

Restaurant owner Marci Dickerson says she lost more than a million dollars between her catering business and restaurants.

"One thing is clear, it really wasn’t about the masks. It was about the shutdowns. It was about the limits that they put on us. It’s about the fact that only patio restaurants could open. Only that you could open at 30%. You open at 10%. You were closed. All of that really impacts a restaurant's ability to cover their bills," said Dickerson.