Restaurants in Northwest Washington can apply for direct relief through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund beginning at noon Monday, according to the office of U.S. Congressman Derek Kilmer.
Applicants can register on the U.S. Small Business Administration application portal now, according to a press release.
The $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) was created by the American Rescue Plan.
“Local restaurants contribute to the vitality of our communities,” Kilmer said.
“They’ve been hit hard during this pandemic, so we need to have their backs so they can continue to provide good jobs. That’s why Congress worked to pass the American Rescue Plan and provide critical support to local, independent restaurants and the workers they support”
Late last week, led the entire bipartisan Washington congressional delegation in a letter to U.S. Small Business Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman requesting revisions to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) participation criteria for Restaurant Revitalization Fund. As currently written, the criteria effectively disqualifies Washington state’s distillery and craft distillery industry from receiving RRF relief. The Washington delegation is calling for revisions to the criteria to ensure small business owners have equitable opportunity to access relief from the federal program.
The Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide restaurants and other eligible businesses with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business. The relief does not have to be repaid, provided that the funds are put toward eligible uses by March 11, 2023.
Entities eligible to apply are restaurants; food stands; caterer; bars, snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars; and licensed facilities or premises of a beverage alcohol producer where the public may taste, sample, or purchase products.
Also any of the following businesses in which onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33 percent of gross receipts: bakeries, brewpubs, tasting rooms, taprooms, breweries and/or microbreweries, wineries and distilleries and inns.
A funding guide is available at tinyurl.com/bwdv58pz. A sample application is at tinyurl.com/u99yfyka.