The United States Small Business Administration has launched the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a program meant to give new hope to one of the industries hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A function of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund sets aside $28.6 billon in funding for restaurants, bars, food trucks, caterers and other businesses for whom onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of their gross receipts. Priority will be given to applications from businesses whose majority owners are women, veterans, ethnic minorities or who are economically disadvantaged. Allotted funding can replace COVID-19 related revenue losses up to eight figures and can be spent on rent, payroll, utilities and other operating costs for nearly two years without any repayment.
“This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location,” reads the SBA’s webpage on the program. “Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.”
The fund will remain open as long as money is still available, and SBA officials are motivated to distribute it as quickly as possible. Sharon Harvey, the SBA’s senior area manager for Western North Carolina, explained in an informational webinar last month the basic process for gauging eligibility and filling out an application as quickly and as accurately as possible. For those who missed the webinar, the information is now available through the SBA website.
“We want to make sure that as soon as the portal’s open, there’s no questions and you’re not trying to figure stuff out,” Harvey said. “We want you to be ready.”
Restaurants were among the businesses most heavily burdened with restrictions during the pandemic because food sales require some level of physical contact, most dining rooms aren’t naturally socially distanced, and you can’t eat with a mask on. Macon County lost multiple local restaurants to the drop in revenue that followed. Macon County Economic Development Commission director Tommy Jenkins said there’s no shortage of entrepreneurs in the area for whom the RRF could make a difference.
“Fast food has done well, but for a lot of our mom-and-pop joints, they’ve struggled,” Jenkins said. “It looks like this has good potential to help.”
However, after the portal opened on May 3, many local restaurateurs say that they not only haven’t applied yet, they haven’t even heard about the fund. Adam Kimsey, co-owner of Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub, says that there have been a lot of support programs to keep up with, such as the Paycheck Protection Program, leaving many business owners still catching their breath.
“Honestly, we just got done with the last wave of PPP, so we haven’t really paid any attention to it yet,” Kimsey said. “I’m definitely interested, though.”
For more information on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and to apply for support, go online to www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/restaurant-revitalization-fund.