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Randy Garutti

Executive

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Type
Person
Role
Executive
Programs
PPP
Updated

The profile

Shake Shack chief executive in April 2020, when the company received and returned a $10 million PPP loan.

Identity and role

Randy Garutti was chief executive officer of Shake Shack Inc., the New York-based burger chain listed on the New York Stock Exchange, through May 20, 2024. In April 2020 the company received a $10 million PPP loan from JPMorgan Chase and, two days after reporting it, said it would give the money back.

Biography / career arc

Shake Shack's March 21, 2024 announcement of his successor credits Garutti with more than 20 years with the brand, dating from its start as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park. Danny Meyer, Shake Shack's founder and chairman, said in the same release that the company had grown to more than 520 restaurants worldwide.

Garutti has also been a director of Square, which changed its name to Block on December 1, 2021. He signed the company's annual reports as a director in February 2020, February 2021 and February 2022.

Pandemic-relief / PPP-EIDL role

On Friday, April 17, 2020, Shake Shack reported that it had received $10 million under the PPP and announced new equity financing: about $140 million from an underwritten offering and about $10 million from at-the-market sales, for aggregate gross proceeds of $150 million. CNBC reported that the company had furloughed more than 1,000 employees and closed 17 company-operated U.S. locations by that day.

On Sunday evening, April 19, Garutti and Meyer said the company would return the loan. Shake Shack's 8-K filed April 21 states that it was "returning $10.0 million in proceeds from a loan by JPMorgan Chase, which was granted pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program" and that the money "was not used by the Company." Garutti told CNBC on April 20: "We've ensured our long-term stability, now it's time for us to help our friends in the industry do the same." He said the company had applied to keep as many employees as possible, and that by giving the money back "it will go back into the pot." The first $349 billion of PPP funding had run out the previous Thursday.

Shake Shack's announcement came before the SBA and Treasury changed the guidance. On April 23, 2020 they published PPP FAQ 31, which told borrowers to certify their economic need in good faith, taking into account "their ability to access other sources of liquidity." It added that "it is unlikely that a public company with substantial market value and access to capital markets will be able to make the required certification in good faith." Any borrower that had applied before the guidance and repaid in full by May 18, 2020 would be deemed to have made the necessity certification in good faith.

Their own relief

The loan was the company's. The SBA's public PPP loan-level data (September 30, 2024 release) list no loan to Shake Shack Inc.; the borrower records carrying the Shake Shack name are small, unrelated businesses. The data list no loan to a borrower named Randy Garutti, and the USAspending COVID-EIDL award files we searched list none to him or to Shake Shack Inc.

We found no enforcement action, lawsuit or charge concerning the PPP loan against Garutti or Shake Shack in our archive.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

May 20, 2024 was also his last day on the Shake Shack board. His successor was Rob Lynch, then president and chief executive of Papa John's International. Garutti stayed on as an adviser through the end of 2024. Block's board of directors page, as of July 2026, lists him as a director and "former CEO of Shake Shack."

Sources held in this archive

  • Shake Shack and the Press Cycle

Sources

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