Restaurateur Juan Ramirez was scrambling for an answer within minutes of the Small Business Jobs Act being signed into law. Could the package of tax write-offs and lending incentives be the break he so desperately needed?


“I have two small restaurants, and I don’t know how I will be able to stay open if I don’t get some help,” the New York City restaurateur wrote in an e-mail to one potential information source. “Please let me know how and what I need to do to get a loan.”