• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

PlanningShop

Plan. Start. Grow.

  • Our Products
  • Instructors
  • Entrepreneurs
  • BizGear
  • Rhonda’s Blog
  • Book Rhonda
  • About PlanningShop
  • Search
  • Our Products
  • Instructors
  • Entrepreneurs
  • BizGear
  • Rhonda’s Blog
  • Book Rhonda
  • About PlanningShop
  • Search
restaurants

Small Restaurants Still Need Help

May 19, 2021 //  by Rhonda Abrams

Recently, when visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico I stopped for lunch in the Palacio Café, a small restaurant near the main plaza. I was on what my friends called my “green chile chicken enchilada journey”—having fallen in love with New Mexico green chile. As I travel, I always try to check in with small business owners to see how they’re doing, so I asked the café’s owner, Damian Munoz, how Covid had been for him. “Devastating,” was his answer.

“Did you get any financial help from the government?” I asked, hoping Munoz had at least received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgiveable loan. But like many small business owners, Munoz knows how to run his business but doesn’t know how to navigate government red tape. “No—I’m terrible at paperwork,” Munoz replied sadly.

Restaurants, bars, brewpubs, and the like were among the hardest hit companies in the pandemic, and these industries are dominated by small businesses that could least afford the hit. Munoz, for example, while fortunate to stay in business, lost more than 75% of his income while his rent and utilities and other expenses remained.

To try and save businesses like the one Munoz owns with his wife Maria—and where they both work 14 hour days, six days a week—President Joe Biden included the “Restaurant Revitalization Fund” as part of his “American Rescue Plan.” This includes $28.6 billion in GRANTS, not loans, for food and beverage serving businesses to help make up their losses in 2020. And there’s help from Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to help those like Munoz who have trouble applying for such help.

Unfortunately, while applications only opened up the beginning of May, those funds have now basically run out (there’s an exception for very small businesses—keep reading…). In fact, the Small Business Administration (SBA) received more than 266,000 applications totaling over $65 billion in funds. According to the SBA, about half of the applications came from veterans, women, and socially and economically disadvantaged business owners.

Can you still apply? Given the overwhelming response, the SBA is now limiting applications only to qualified small businesses with a total of $50,000 in gross receipts or less in 2019. However, there’s a move to replenish the fund to help additional restaurants, bar, and brewpub owners survive and revive.

IS THIS A LOAN?

No. Here’s the language from the SBA site: “Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.”

HOW MUCH CAN YOU GET?

2019 gross receipts (not profit) minus 2020 gross receipts minus PPP loan amounts. (If you started business in 2019 or 2020, there are other formulas.)

WHO QUALIFIES?

Companies that were serving food and/or beverage to the public, primarily onsite, including restaurants, food trucks and carts, bars, snack bars, microbreweries; and caterers, wineries, inns, and distilleries where onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts. You must NOT be permanently closed. You can have no more than 20 locations. Non-profits are NOT eligible.

WHAT CAN YOU USE THE MONEY FOR?

You can use the funds for just about any normal business expense: payroll, rent, utilities, food, supplies, loan payments, marketing, equipment, licenses, more. You can also use the money for construction of outside seating areas. And this covers expenses from Feb 15, 2020 to March 11, 2023!

HOW TO APPLY:

If you qualify – less than $50,000 in gross receipts in 2019, apply through any one of these:

  1. SBA: https://restaurants.sba.gov/requests/borrower/login/?next=/
  2. “POS”: Point-of-sale providers, including Square, Toast, Clover, Oracle, NCR (Aloha).
  3. TELEPHONE: (844) 279-8898

With the recent lifting of the mask mandate for vaccinated individuals, more Americans are starting to travel—like me. Hopefully, soon the Palacio Café will once again be filled with customers enjoying Munoz’s green chile chicken enchiladas or another meal in the charming, flower-filled courtyard.

But the Restaurant Revitalization Fund will help and deserves to be revitalized itself. If you own a restaurant, bar, food truck, brewpub or the like—or you care about someone who does—let your Congressperson and Senator know that you’d like the Restaurant Revitalization Fund expanded.


Copyright Rhonda Abrams, 2021

This article originally ran in USA Today on May 20, 2021

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Category: Rhonda's Blog, USA TodayTag: American Rescue Plan, COVID-19, financial assistance, government, Restaurant Revitalization Fund, restaurants, rhonda abrams, small business, small business owner

Previous Post: «Shuttered Venue Grants Shuttered Venue Grants Finally Open
Next Post: How to Stay in Front of your Small Biz Customers Newsletter»

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Rhonda's Blog via Email

Instagram @rhondaabrams

Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #newsletter #smallbizguru
What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of your smallbiz customers, in my latest @usatoday column. Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #customer #digitalmarketing #smallbizguru
National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to sta National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to start the weekend!! Enjoy, and go find yourself some doughnuts 😋 🍩 
.
.
#smallbusiness #fridayfeeling #nationaldoughnutday
#smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #ins #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #inspirationalquotes
“And I’m proud to be an American, where at lea “And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.” - Lee Greenwood -
.
.
#memorialday #neverforget
We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some R&R, productivity . . . whatever your small business needs~
.
.
#smallbusiness #weekend #entrepreneur #fridayfeeling
Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #tips #entrepreneur #newsletter #smallbizguru
#smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #inspirationalquot #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #inspirationalquotes
Here's to a great week, small business owners! . . Here's to a great week, small business owners!
.
.
#smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #mondaymotivation
My Tweets
  • Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #newsletter #smallbizguru
    What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of your smallbiz customers, in my latest @usatoday column. Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #customer #digitalmarketing #smallbizguru
    National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to sta National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to start the weekend!! Enjoy, and go find yourself some doughnuts 😋 🍩 
.
.
#smallbusiness #fridayfeeling #nationaldoughnutday
    #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #ins #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #inspirationalquotes
    “And I’m proud to be an American, where at lea “And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.” - Lee Greenwood -
.
.
#memorialday #neverforget
    We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some R&R, productivity . . . whatever your small business needs~
.
.
#smallbusiness #weekend #entrepreneur #fridayfeeling
    Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #tips #entrepreneur #newsletter #smallbizguru
  • Footer

    Our Products
    Instructor Central

    Privacy Policy
    Contact Us

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

    Copyright © 2023 PlanningShop · All Rights Reserved · Site design by paulinaart

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. ACCEPT Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT