By Rachel O’Brien
Deputy Policy Editor, OpenTheBooks.com

In March 2020, at the height of the pandemic, millions of mom-and-pop businesses on Main Street were shut down during the economic lockdown. Congress created the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) to provide Covid aid to those companies.

There are at least 527 businesses in Austin that have been forgiven loans of between $1 million and $10 million, adding up to more than $1 billion in large federal loans forgiven by the Small Business Administration for its Paycheck Protection Program in the city.

The loans were administered by banks all over the country and backed by the SBA to help businesses keep their workforce employed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SBA has forgiven 95 percent of all its PPP loans, in full or in part, including billions of dollars in Texas.

OpenTheBooks.com reviewed the PPP loan data available on the SBA website to find the Austin companies.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar, Inc. had the largest forgiven loan amount at $9.6 million, while dine-in movie theater Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Holdings, LLC had $9.5 million forgiven out of a $10 million loan.

Healthcare company Hospitalists Now, Inc. was forgiven a $9.4 million loan, and property management company Roscoe Properties, Inc was forgiven $8.9 million of its $9 million loan.

Energy company Pinnergy, Ltd had $7 million of its $8.9 million loan forgiven and software company Asure Software, Inc. had $8.6 million of $8.8 million forgiven.

Film festival South by Southwest, abbreviated SXSW, got $3.9 million of its $5 million loan forgiven.

Professional firms also reaped massive PPP loans that were later forgiven. 

For example, Maxwell, Locke, and Ritter, LLP, the self-described largest accounting firm in central Texas, received a $2 million forgiven loan. According to Accounting TODAY, the firm had 2020 revenues of $35.5 million, up 8.3 percent from 2019.

 

 

Did these firms really need a taxpayer subsidy?

The law firm Scott, Douglass & McConnico’s website touts their credentials as one of the top law firms in Texas and across the country. In 2020, the firm took PPP loans for $1.6 million which were forgiven in May 2021. 

A 90-year-old prominent Austin law firm, McGinnis Lochridge received a $1.5 million loan that was forgiven in December 2020. 

Here are the top five categories of businesses receiving the most PPP forgiven funding:

Full Service Restaurants	$230,374,287.37
Physicians	$91,009,017.48
Custom Computer Programg Srvs	$74,743,437.93
Limited Service Restaurants	$64,724,926.22
Hotels & Motels	$57,233,734.66

 

ABC Pest Control, Inc., of Austin had its $7.6 million loan forgiven and recruiter Triple Crown Consulting, LLC was forgiven of its $7.5 million loan.

As of September 2022, neither Success Foods Management Group, LLC, doing business as Torchy's Tacos, had its $10 million loan forgiven, nor did Turnkey Vacation Rentals, Inc. and its $6.4 million loan.

There were 938,534 loans given to businesses in Texas according to an analysis by ProPublica, the third most in the country after California and Florida. The vast majority (862,350) were for $150,000 or less, while 67,765 loans were between $150,000 and $1 million, 5,656 loans were for between $1 million and $2 million, 2,380 got between $2 million and $5 million and 312 got between $5 million and $10 million.

NOTE: All data is from September 30, 2022 and is posted for download at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) website. 

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