Which San Jose industries received the most PPP money?
George Lahlouh, co-owner of Original Gravity, MINIBOSS and Paper Plane, behind the bar. File photo.

San Jose businesses received more than $2.3 billion in federal funding to keep workers on the job during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) approved more than 11.8 million loans through three rounds of Paycheck Protection Program applications, with California having the most loan money approved out of any state, according to federal data.

San Jose received the most PPP money in Santa Clara County, with almost 25,000 approved applications, an analysis by San José Spotlight shows.

“The PPP has been lifesaving,” said Scott Knies, director of the San Jose Downtown Association. “Our members were very grateful for it (because) a lot of their businesses just went ‘poof’ during the pandemic.”

Three businesses received $10 million in loans to retain a combined 1,324 employees: United Mechanical, an HVAC company; Quantum Corporation, a data storage company; and Velodyne Lidar, a laser sensors company. The federal program forgave the loans to United Mechanical and Velodyne Lidar at the end of June.

United Mechanical and Quantum Corporation did not respond to San José Spotlight’s requests for comment. Velodyne Lidar declined to comment.

Approximately 330 applications in San Jose received more than $1 million in loans, data shows. Many businesses applied for paycheck protection more than once, according to the analysis. In one case, a local Panera Bread franchisee received roughly $5 million through two applications.

Restaurants accounted for the largest percentage of approved dollars at $132 million, about 5.6% of the total amount of loans given to all San Jose businesses. Dental clinics came in at a distant second, with a total of $64 million in loan money.

Other industries hit hard by shutdown orders, such as hotels, did not make the top 10 list.

“If you look at our downtown, there are 200 places to eat, but we have six or seven hotels,” Knies said. “Other industries (on the list) employ a lot of people, and that was a criteria for the loans.”

As of July 1, the SBA has forgiven a total of $1 billion in loans to San Jose businesses, according to the data. About a quarter of a million San Jose employees retained their jobs because of paycheck protection funding.

Here’s a look at the 10 industries that received the most PPP assistance in San Jose:

Full-service restaurants

Total amount: $132,239,071

Average loan: $133,710

Number of loans approved: 989

Top 3 loans:

O.M., Inc. (owner of the local chain Aqui restaurants): $4 million

Luna Mexican Kitchen: $3.4 million

Pangenera, LLC (a Panera Bread franchisee): $2 million

Dental clinics

Total amount: $64,103,646

Average loan: $67,978

Number of approved loans: 943

Top 3 loans:

Dalvir Pannu, D.D.S, Inc.: $592,400

Innovative Dental of Silicon Valley: $439,500

Phelps & Cohen Orthodontics: $816,580

Computer programming services

Total amount: $57,478,334

Average loan: $226,293

Number of loans approved: 254

Top 3 loans:

Photon Infotech Inc.: $7,110,345

Flexton Inc.: $2,675,000

InterraIT, Inc.: $2,240,000

Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors

Total amount: $51,586,358

Average loan: $255,378

Number of approved loans: 202

Top 3 loans:

United Mechanical: $10 million

ICOM Mechanical: $5,025,705

All Temperature Service: $1,884,483

Law offices

Total amount: $51,448,919

Average loan: $90,899

Number of approved loans: 566

Top 3 loans:

Hopkins & Carley: $4,394,000

Berliner Cohen LLP: $1,618,200

Law Foundation of Silicon Valley: $1,444,504

Limited service restaurants (to-go)

Total amount: $50,353,751

Average loan: $109,943

Number of approved loans: 458

Top 3 loans:

Cam-Bas Inc (McDonald's franchise): $4,458,700

Pangenera, LLC (Panera Bread franchise): $2,967,090

Henley Restaurants (McDonald's franchise): $1,905,500

Computer systems design services

Total amount: $50,088,900

Average loan: $265,021

Number of approved loans: 189

Top 3 loans:

Red Oak Technologies: $3,044,347

T3C Inc.: $2,925,162

Jade Global: $2.913,331

Engineering

Total amount: $45,008,037

Average loan: $255,727

Number of approved loans: 176

Top 3 loans:

Ryzen Solutions: $6,423,010

Structural Integrity Associates: $4,570,300

Mark Thomas: $4,042,600

Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors

Total amount: $42,455,998

Average loan: $244,000

Number of loans approved: 174

Top 3 loans:

CH Reynolds Electric: $5,088,648

New Age Electric: $4,052,495

RFI Communications & Security Systems: $3,202,400

Offices of physicians (except mental health services)

Total amount: $37,675,348

Average loan: $80,160

Number of approved loans: 470

Top 3 loans:

NMCI Medical Clinic: $2,369,472

Action Urgent Care: $1,952,961

San Jose Medical Clinic: $1,898,744

Contact Tran Nguyen at [email protected] or follow @nguyenntrann on Twitter.

Comment Policy (updated 5/10/2023): Readers are required to log in through a social media or email platform to confirm authenticity. We reserve the right to delete comments or ban users who engage in personal attacks, hate speech, excess profanity or make verifiably false statements. Comments are moderated and approved by admin.

Leave a Reply