Restaurant relief has finally arrived for small, regional eateries: restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, bakeries, caterers, and more. While it may be overdue, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced a restaurant revitalization grant that provides equal funding for pandemic-related revenue losses of up to $10 million to eligible restaurants. This promising restaurant grant application portal is now open, but for the next 21 days, the program is prioritizing small businesses owned by women, U.S. veterans, and those who are socially or economically disadvantaged. After this 21 day period, the restaurant revitalization fund will open up to all eligible businesses.
This fund is fantastic news for all restaurateurs: whether you run a town favorite corner shop cafe or the best pizzeria in the state. Not only will this money help offset the major losses restaurants faced in 2020, but there is also no requirement to pay back a single cent received through the restaurant revitalization program.
The 2021 restaurant revitalization fund may be used for specific operating expenses like employee relief, sick leave, rent, supplier costs, and the like; however, the funds can also be put toward some of the interesting innovations restaurants had to adapt to survive, like constructing outdoor seating.
This is also a remarkable opportunity to sustain the high standards restaurants upheld in 2020. Many restaurants had to automate ordering, payment, and anything they could to get by with limited staffing and extra responsibilities. QR code menus, something alien to our 2019 selves, are now just as vital for the table as a napkin. Will all the sanitation measures and requirements simply disappear as states reopen and COVID vaccines are more mainstream? Not likely. The wave of digitizing restaurants grows larger each day and restaurants that made it this far do not deserve to be left behind. This funding opens the door to automation; something less automated eateries desperately need to stay efficient.
Automating your restaurant’s operations does not have to be expensive or time consuming. With products like WorkWatch, restaurant operators can tackle capacity constraints, employee time and attendance, precise workflow management, and much more on one application that is safely stored on Amazon Web Services’ cloud for you to access whenever you need it: whether it be for a SBA restaurant revitalization grant or to ensure trust among skeptical customers.
It is time to get compensated for your 2020 losses. You can apply for the SBA restaurant revitalization grant in the U.S. Small Business Administration's portal.
This funding is well deserved and we are extremely proud of the hard work you put in to keep your restaurant up and running. To congratulate you, we are offering a free hat just for you. Congratulations on making it to May of 2021, time to secure your restaurant's future!
