More than two years after the Paycheck Protection Program first began directing billions of dollars in federal aid to businesses across the country, a clearer picture of its biggest beneficiaries has emerged.
Designed to preserve jobs at small businesses from the seismic shocks of the early pandemic, the program provided low-interest loans to businesses that were forgivable if the money was used for payroll and other eligible payments over the following six months.
Exact dollar amounts for the loans, which continue to be forgiven as recently as July, are now available from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Data for Bexar County zip codes shows the top recipient was the energy firm belonging to one of San Antonio’s richest individuals, followed by Bill Miller Bar-B-Q and several other restaurant chains, including one now embroiled in a lawsuit over alleged misappropriation of PPP funds.
Nationally, while the $800 billion program saved about 3 million jobs at its peak, it did so at a great expense, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis recently wrote in a report studying the policy’s effectiveness, calling it a “critical but imperfect policy.”
For every $4 that taxpayers spent, only about $1 ultimately went to workers whose jobs were saved, the St. Louis Fed said, citing a report released earlier this year. The rest went to business owners, who also shared it with suppliers, banks and lenders. About three-quarters of PPP funds were captured by households with incomes in the top 20%, the report found, making the PPP program the most regressive of all the major pandemic relief policies.
Still, the report found that by comparing the fate of PPP-eligible companies to those deemed too big or too small for the program, the loans did achieve their goals of retaining jobs. Nationally, about 94% of eligible firms took out a PPP loan, and the overwhelming majority of them were forgiven.
In Bexar County, the program was a lifeline for small and not-so-small businesses. Most smaller PPP loans are not captured in the SBA data, which shows information only for loans of more than $150,000.
Of these large-scale loans, more than $2.3 billion was forgiven in Bexar County. The full-service restaurant industry received the biggest pot of funds, followed by physician offices and new car dealerships. Many of the top recipients had more than 500 employees, despite PPP guidelines making these larger firms ineligible, thanks to carve-outs that made exceptions for restaurant chains and other industries.
Here are the Bexar County PPP loan recipients with the largest dollar amounts in forgiven loans and the number of jobs they reported were retained as a result. A table with the complete list of loans for $150,000 or more in Bexar County can be found at the bottom of this article.
#1. Lewis Energy Group
Loans forgiven: $10,138,055.56
Reported jobs retained: 408
Lewis Energy Group was founded by Rodney Lewis, its CEO who Forbes estimated was worth $1.3 billion in 2019, and who owns the world’s largest single-masted yacht.
According to the SBA data, the gas drilling company was not only Bexar County’s largest PPP recipient, it was also the nation’s largest recipient in the oil and gas industry.
Lewis Energy Group has purchased more than 500,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Shale, and was once one of the most prolific drillers there.
#2 Bill Miller Bar-B-Q Enterprises Ltd.
Loans forgiven: $10,115,342.47
Reported jobs retained: 500
The PPP was intended for firms with fewer than 500 employees. However, exceptions were made for restaurants that employed no more than 500 employees per location, like Bill Miller.
According to forms it submitted to Bexar County as part of a request for tax relief, the chain employs 2,300 full-time employees and 3,000 part-time employees, with most based locally.
Bill Miller temporarily closed its dining rooms in June 2020 because of rising COVID cases. It did so again earlier this year due to staffing shortages.
#3 Buffets LLC
Loans forgiven: $10,113,972.60
Reported jobs retained: 500
This former national buffet empire once claimed 650 stores across multiple brands, but by 2021, it had filed for bankruptcy for the fourth time in a decade. Its restaurants in San Antonio included Furr’s Fresh Buffet and Ryan’s Buffet. It has since renamed to Fresh Acquisitions and has been purchased by a holding company for $4.2 million.
Late last year a federal bankruptcy judge allowed the company’s new owners to sue the former owners for what they alleged was nearly $20 million in misused funds, including $4 million in misused PPP funds. That was the amount the former owners transferred to an affiliated company the day after receiving its $10 million PPP infusion and shortly before declaring bankruptcy.
The month before it applied for the PPP loan, a March 2020 investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor also found that the company had violated wage laws for more than 1,900 employees, and ordered it to pay nearly $100,000 in back wages.
#4 Muy Pizza Tejas LLC
Loans forgiven: $10,113,424.66
Reported jobs retained: 500
In 2020, this massive Pizza Hut franchise was owned by former San Antonio fast food mogul James Bodenstedt.
Bodenstedt told an industry publication earlier this year that soon after the pandemic was declared a national emergency, he was in contact with Gov. Greg Abbott and the White House. The Associated Press reported that Bodenstedt’s companies, which collected between $16 million to $37 million in PPP loans, were among the first in the country to be awarded pandemic relief, alongside other companies owned by prominent donors to then-President Donald Trump.
Bodenstedt recently sold his Muy Brands empire — consisting of roughly 755 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Wendy’s restaurants — to several buyers for an aggregate price of “well in excess of $1 billion,” according to an industry publication quoting official forms earlier this year. Bodenstedt told the publication that he had sold all of his property in San Antonio and was planning to move to Europe.
#5 Airrosti
Loans forgiven: $9,215,401.24
Reported jobs retained: 500
This San Antonio-based health care company specializing in injury recovery took a massive hit in its revenue through the first few months of the pandemic, its board chairman, Kelly Green, told the San Antonio Business Journal. But by June, he said it had nearly recovered.
The company has around 750 employees, according to the Business Journal, which is more than is typically allowed by the PPP program. Its vice president of compliance, Shawn Dinsmore, told the San Antonio Report that it worked with attorneys, accounting firms and its bank to ensure it still qualified for the program under carve-outs. “We are grateful for these funds,” he said.
#6 Den Tex Central Inc.
Loans forgiven: $8,145,754.20
Reported jobs retained: 500
In the weeks before the pandemic, this company was reported to be the largest single-owner Denny’s franchisee. Although its total number of stores has shrunk slightly since then, the company headed by President and CEO Dawn Lafreeda still owns around 80 Denny’s restaurants with roughly 3,000 employees across multiple states.
Lafreeda told a franchising trade publication last year that her company generated about $100 million in sales each year.
#7 Joeris General Contractors
Loans forgiven: $8,145,754.20
Reported jobs retained: 467
This family owned and operated company is one of the region’s largest general contractors, and in 2019 had more than $560 million in total local commercial billings, according to an analysis by the San Antonio Business Journal. Its work can be found along Broadway Avenue, where it built the Credit Human and Oxbow towers and is constructing Jefferson Bank’s new headquarters.
The company, which provides construction services for commercial projects across the state, employs most of its 500-strong workforce in San Antonio, where it is headquartered, but it also has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
The company told the Business Journal that it saw record revenue last year at $761 million, though it was lower than what executives anticipated.
#8 Our Lady of the Lake University
Loans forgiven: $6,694,679.41
Reported jobs retained: 455
This private Catholic university has campuses in San Antonio, Houston and the Rio Grande Valley. Its then-president Diane Melby told the Texas Tribune its PPP disbursement made it possible to cover about seven to eight weeks of payroll expenses, allowing it to avoid layoffs.
She also said 60% of OLLU students are low-income, with most receiving federal Pell Grants. Almost all students receive some form of university-funded financial aid.
“We were providing the students with a lot of financial help, and we are a very lean organization — we don’t have a lot of money anyway — so we would have been immediately in a situation where we would have needed to lay off employees,” Melby told the Tribune.
#9 Southwest Electrical Contracting Services Ltd.
Loans forgiven: $6,243,820.45
Reported jobs retained: 470
This Converse-based, family-owned electrical contracting group began in 2004 and counts among its clients the City of San Antonio, H-E-B, Baptist Health System, Trinity University, UTSA and many others. While it primarily services the the South Texas region, it has a branch in Florida and is licensed to service in states across the South.
Out of electrical contractors that received PPP loans in Texas, this company was the third largest by employee count.
#10 Thomas J. Henry Law PLLC
Loans forgiven: $5,822,986.06
Reported jobs retained: 487
The San Antonio law firm known for its flashy television ads and billboards describes itself as the largest personal injury firm in Texas. Its PPP disbursement was the fifth-largest of any legal firm in the state.
Henry is known for throwing lavish parties, such as his 56th birthday party that featured Cardi B or the $6 million quinceañera he threw for his daughter in 2016.
Law firms were among the most common industries to request PPP loans in 2020, owing to many clients’ inability to pay legal bills.
Disclosure: The San Antonio Report received two forgiven PPP loans totaling slightly more than $534,000.
