When Brandon Lindley applied for a low-interest repayable loan under the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, he hoped to borrow enough money to be able to pay the handful of workers spread across his two sandal stores. , and some of the bills that continue to pile up while its stores are closed due to the novel coronavirus.

He didn’t know that businesses with thousands of employees and hundreds of locations would qualify for the same funds.

“We’re not on the same playing field,” Lindley said. “You look at the size: we have nine employees and two managers and that’s it.”

On the other hand, the Denny’s diner-style restaurant chain had more than 1,700 locations and more than $ 500 million in operating revenue last year, according to SEC documents. He is also eligible for the program, and a spokesperson told ABC News, “Denny’s is reviewing all available remedies,” including “analyzing all options available under recent federal stimulus packages.”

The Paycheque Protection Program was created as part of the $ 2 trillion stimulus package to offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with $ 350 billion taken from that massive sum to serve lifeline in the form of loans for businesses with 500 or fewer employees. But this legislation also allows companies in the hotel and restaurant industry – regardless of their size – to ask for money from the same pot. Some fear that the disparity between applicants will leave small businesses empty-handed.

Rhonda Abrams, founder of PlanningShop, an educational source for entrepreneurs in Southern California, said large companies are in a better position to sift through what can be a complicated application process and ultimately get approved for a loan quickly because they have more resources.

“They have bookkeepers, accountants, and payroll records. They’re pretty easy at the front of the line,” Abrams said. “Their need is great. I’m not saying you shouldn’t help them. But you have sharks fighting minnows in the same pool of water.”

In the case of franchises, Abrams said, they can often look to their head office for information and to help them understand their options.

While this support was not a luxury available to Lindley, he was still in a better position than many to apply for the loan. After being forced to temporarily close stores in Palm Springs, Calif., And Scottsdale, Arizona, he wrote to lawmakers asking for help and paid close attention to the relief bill as it passed. by the Chambers of Congress. He also had an existing relationship with a community bank, which allowed him to avoid some of the problems faced by small business owners trying to take out their first loan.

But as he began the application process on Monday, Lindley learned that Paycheck Protection Program loans are determined by a company’s average monthly salary costs for the previous year, not the workforce. current of its employees.

Lindley opened his second location last fall, and when the first cases of COVID-19 started appearing in California, he had just finished recruiting staff for the busy season at his stores. The loan he could apply for did not reflect the size of his expanding business.

Lindley said she applied for a loan of around $ 40,000. He has not yet heard whether it has been approved or denied.

“I just closed payrolls last Monday,” Lindley said, adding that he no longer had the resources to continue sending paychecks. “In two weeks, I need the PPP.

Fears that the paycheck protection program’s well will run out before they receive their loans, or even their approvals, adds to the worries of many small business owners, Abrams said.

“When you read that two banks together on day one gave out nearly $ 50 billion of the $ 350 billion, you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out how that could run out,” said Abrams.

President Donald Trump also said in a briefing Friday that small business owners who apply for PPP loans are starting to get this money so they can continue to pay their employees.

“Banks are getting into distribution,” he said. “They’ve accepted thousands and thousands of requests. The numbers are not even credible, the number of requests. They are overwhelmed. Bank of America and Wells Fargo, and I guess now Citibank has just started up, and also what that nobody talks about are commercial banks, community banks. “

Trump has said that in some cases community banks “are frankly the easiest to withdraw money.”

Tune in to ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET every day of the week for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the entire ABC News team, including the latest news, background and l ‘to analyse.

Thursday, the Democrats blocked a request Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to unanimously approve a $ 250 billion replenishment fund for the Paycheck Protection Program, demanding more aid for hospitals and other needs .

But even if Congress breaks the partisan deadlock, the basic structure of the program remains the same, and eligible large companies will be able to claim a larger chunk of the funds, up to a limit of $ 10 million each.

“Large companies are much more likely to have better access to credit, potentially cash reserves, and also to be able to negotiate private deferrals of many costs,” said Tracy Loh, member of the Brookings Institution. .

“If these resources are limited, and it certainly appears to be, they should have been reserved for the smaller businesses, which do not have the option of obtaining some other form of relief,” Loh said. “If we don’t have more effective relief for American small businesses than this, then the recession we are already in will turn into a depression.”

What to know about the coronavirus:

Other federal programs that may seem suited to small operations actually favor large companies, according to Loh. The Federal Reserve details announced for its Main Street Lending program, and although small businesses are eligible, the minimum loan amount is $ 1 million.

“I think the name of the program is incorrect,” Loh said. “This program is aimed at mid-sized businesses with high gross revenues of several million, if not billions of dollars, and hundreds of employees. This is not Main Street.”

But others say any business in the hardest hit sectors should have access to as many forms of assistance as possible.

“Coronavirus closures are a tidal wave. It is crashing into every restaurant, regardless of size,” said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of the National Restaurant Association. “There are established chains that are talking about shutting down their operations for good because they don’t know if this is sustainable.”

In many places affected by the pandemic, restaurants were the first businesses to close – some as early as mid-March.

“The average restaurant has about 15 days of cash,” Kennedy said. “We are approaching the fourth week.”

And for the 15.6 million workers who make up the restaurant industry, without federal help, there may be no relief in sight.

“What we saw after [Hurricane] Katrina, after [Superstorm] Sandy, even after 9/11 to an extent, is that people don’t immediately start coming in and packing houses from restaurants. So even when sanitation comes in so we can reopen, we have a long way to go before restaurants can be profitable in a sustainable way, ”Kennedy said.

While some restaurants, like Denny’s, have been able to maintain some sales through pickup and delivery, Lindley cannot do business outside of its brick and mortar stores. Holder of a license of the Havaianas shoe brand, he can only sell the product in certain regions, so selling online is not an option.

As Lindley waits to see if he will receive funds for the next round of paychecks from his workers, the busy season he occupied just a few months ago is drawing away.

“Our season runs from March through June,” said Lindley. “This is how we pretty much pay the bills for the whole year.”