As a country, we are making great strides in combatting the COVID-19 virus. Our country is now in the position to begin reopening with full-capacity as the end-goal. Unfortunately with these great milestones still come hardships. Many local and small businesses struggled to stay open during the pandemic, and those that persevered through still have financial struggles today. Restaurants are no exception, and because of our close ties with many restaurant owners, we want to help provide COVID-19 relief resources for restaurant owners.
Where to Begin?
During the height of the pandemic, we began working closely with many restaurant owners. Our online ordering platform and curbside communication gave us the ability to provide new technology quickly. The hope with this article is that restaurant owners will have an easily accessible index of resources, both for networking and financial support.
Restaurant Revitalization Fund
A hot topic of debate has been the Restaurant Revitalization fund. It took congress a long time to figure out specific numbers and the the breakdown of funding between each state. Now that the funding amounts have been finalized, it is time for restaurant and small business owners to begin applying. This funding is to set to help provide restaurant owners keep their doors open by covering their pandemic-related losses up to 10 million dollars. As long as funds are used to help overcome costs up until the year 2023, this money does not need to be paid back by the restaurant owner. To find out additional information on eligibility, refer to the SBA website.
Restaurant Strong Fund
The Restaurant Strong Fund will be providing qualified restaurant owners with $5,000 to help aid their return to regular business. This grant is city selective, so if you have a restaurant in Atlanta, Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley), Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles area (Los Angeles, Anaheim, /Long Beach)New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington D.C., you can qualify! Up to $2 million is available, so apply now!
State Specific COVID-19 Relief Resources
Below is a list of East Coast states and their state-specified resources. Please note that while the demand for relief is great, especially by small businesses and local restaurants, that some of these grants and funding may reach their cap by the time you read this article and are searching. These COVID-19 relief resources for restaurant owners are meant to make your lives easier and to help navigate through funding options quicker.
Delaware Philanthropy Grants and Relief Funding
Philanthropy Delaware has always supported small businesses and organizations, and now during the pandemic is no exception. Here you will find an organized list of COVID-19 Response grants, Arts & Culture Grants and Economic & Development grants that may be ideal for your restaurant.
Maryland Restaurant Relief
Maryland has many pandemic-relief grants available specifically to its restaurant owners. You can click here to see all of the specific grants by county.
Ohio Restaurants Relief
If you are a restaurant owner in Ohio, you can apply today for relief-funds. This relief fund is for employees within the restaurant, foodservice and hospitality industries, so if you know of others who qualify, make sure to send this link their way as well!
Pennsylvania CDFI Small Business Grants
Many Pennsylvania small business grants opened a few months ago, but there are some still open. For local restaurants that qualify, there is still CDFI funding to be given. Here you can find more specifics on the grants and whether or not your restaurant qualifies.
New Jersey Relief Resources and Applications
Choose New Jersey gives 12 resources that you can sift through to determine whether or not your restaurant would benefit from the relief funds. Most of the resources are small business related.
New York Relief
New York has a lot of options in terms of relief grants and funding. The New York State Pandemic Recovery Initiative makes it easy to find which grants your restaurant qualifies for by using a filtering system. This is a convenient and time-efficient measure that makes navigating resources much easier.
Moving Forward
While there is no set way to navigate through a pandemic, at UBMe we want to continue to find ways that make it easier for restaurant owners to devote their time to their food and business, rather than their finances. Our goal is to insure that restaurants and other small businesses have the capability to not only survive the pandemic, but to flourish post-COVID-19. The aid of the grants we have listed above are a good way to start and hopefully will benefit our readers.
If you have any additional information or grants you know of that could help fellow restaurant or business owners, please do not hesitate to reach out to us and we will absolutely include it!
If you would like to receive more information on UBMe and our online ordering platforms or to sign up, contact us directly here.