A question of struggle and survival for many restaurants
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Some restaurants are still digging out of the hole the COVID-19 pandemic put them in. Many took on debt to survive the pandemic when they had to shutter; others have debt from before. The costs of those loans are still weighing on many restaurants — especially smaller establishments. We dig in. Also on this morning’s show: the war on ticket scalping, Vietnam’s slashed import duties and a delay in a Panama Canal port deal.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | administrations change. The war on scalping remains. From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore, |
| 0:08.7 | in for David Brancaccio. President Trump has signed an executive order aimed at curbing ticket |
| 0:13.8 | scalping for live events. Trump made the announcement in the Oval Office yesterday with Kid Rock |
| 0:18.7 | looking over his shoulder. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall |
| 0:21.2 | Gensar has more. |
| 0:22.7 | The executive order pretty much tells federal officials to enforce existing laws on ticket |
| 0:27.9 | scalping, instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson to ensure |
| 0:33.6 | ticket resellers are in compliance with the IRS. |
| 0:41.8 | Scalpers are supposed to report ticket sell proceeds over $600 a year. The executive order also tells Bondi and Bessent to prevent anti-competitive conduct. |
| 0:47.9 | The White House says scalpers use bots to scoop up face value tickets, then resell them at an |
| 0:53.8 | enormous markup. Last year, the Biden administration |
| 0:57.0 | sued Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, accusing them of running an illegal |
| 1:02.5 | monopoly. Live Nation issued a statement yesterday. It thanked President Trump for taking on the bots. |
| 1:09.4 | I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace. |
| 1:12.4 | The Hooters Restaurant Chain has filed for bankruptcy protection. The brand is going to |
| 1:17.2 | stick around, but its restaurants will change hands. Hooters has faced a parade of problems, |
| 1:22.2 | including lawsuits over its hiring practices. Also, $376 million in debt. That is actually something a lot of restaurants are |
| 1:31.7 | struggling with right now. Some took on debt to survive the pandemic back when they had to close |
| 1:36.0 | their doors. Others have debt from even before that. And five plus years later, the cost of |
| 1:42.2 | these loans is still weighing them down, especially for |
| 1:45.2 | small restaurants. Marketplaces, Samantha Fields has more. |
| 1:48.7 | When the pandemic hit, Michael Shemtov owned 10 restaurants in Charleston and Nashville. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.