Ruth's Chris says it will repay $20 million in small business loans

Ruth&#039;s Chris Steak House in San Francisco.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

published 24 April 2020

Ruth's Hospitality Group, the owner of Ruth's Chris Steak House, announced on Thursday it will return the $20 million it received from the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended for small businesses to pay their employees amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The $349 billion program ran out of money quickly, and CNBC reports that nearly $600 million was given out to roughly 150 public companies. The Treasury Department has asked those companies to return their money.

There are more than 100 Ruth's Chris restaurants in North America, and the company was able to receive $10 million in loans for both of its subsidiaries. "We intended to repay this loan in adherence with government guidelines, but as we learned more about the funding limitation of the program and the unintended impact, we have decided to accelerate that repayment," Ruth's Chris President and CEO Cheryl J. Henry said in a statement.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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