The application deadline for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund is drawing near, and the application portal will close at 7 p.m. Central on Monday, May 24.
The fund provides restaurants, bars, food trucks and stands and other related businesses with grants of up to $5 million for establishments with one location, or $10 million for those with multiple locations.
“If our nation’s food and beverage industry is going to fully recover, we must ensure as many of the hardest-hit businesses get the economic aid they need,” said Isabella Casillas Guzman, administrator of the SBA. “We are committed to creating easy to navigate programs and removing barriers that have kept many of our nation’s smallest businesses from accessing these crucial economic lifelines. The SBA will continue to be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve, and we will continue to work as fast as possible to deliver the relief our businesses need so urgently.”
The $28.6 billion RRF was signed into law by President Joe Biden, as a means of getting capital to hard hit dining and drinking establishments. The fund prioritizes establishments with less than $50,000 in pre-pandemic sales, through a $500 million set-aside, specifically for those businesses. The fund also prioritizes women and veteran-owned businesses, as well as businesses from economically and socially disadvantaged individuals.
According to an SBA release, the RRF program has received more than 303,000 applications representing over $69 billion in requested funds, and nearly 38,000 applicants have been approved for more than $6 billion. Of the overall submitted applications, 57% came from women, veteran and socially and economically disadvantaged business owners.
ADVERTISEMENT
The online application portal can be found at sba.gov/restaurants
