Restaurant Revitalization Fund is now closed — but you can still check status of your application

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund program, which provided more than $28 million of economic aid to restaurants and other establishments struggling to make ends meet as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was closed Friday, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced.

The application platform, however, will remain open for the next two weeks to allow applicants to check their status, address payment corrections or ask questions. The SBA will disable access to the platform July 14.

The average award was $283,000, the SBA said.

“The $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund provided desperately needed relief to more than 100,000 restaurants and other food and beverage businesses across the nation, with significant funding going to our hardest-hit, underserved businesses,” SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman said.

“Restaurants are at the center of our neighborhoods and propel economic activity on Main Streets. As among the first to close in this pandemic and likely the last to reopen, many are still struggling to survive. The SBA will continue to work hard to ensure they get the resources they need to recover, rebuild and be resilient.”

The SBA said the RRF program received more than 278,000 submitted, eligible applications representing over $72.2 billion in requested funds. It said approximately 100,000 applicants have been approved. The fund gave extra emphasis to establishments run by business owners from underserved populations. They received approximately $18 billion in grant awards, including:

  • Women-owned businesses: $7.5 billion;
  • Veteran-owned businesses: $1 billion;
  • Social and economically disadvantaged-owned businesses: $6.7 billion;
  • Businesses owned by representatives of multiple underserved populations: $2.8 billion.

The remainder of the $28.6 billion was awarded to eligible applicants not identified as part of an underserved group.

The average size of grant awards to applicants was $283,000:

  • 2% of approved dollars for $50K and under;
  • 9% of approved dollars for $50K-100K;
  • 6% of approved dollars for $100K-150K;
  • 2% of approved dollars for $150K-350K;
  • 2% of approved dollars for $350K-$1M;
  • 4% of approved dollars for $1M-$2M;
  • 18% of approved dollars for $2M-$5M;
  • 6% of approved dollars for $5M-$10M.

As outlined by Congress, restaurants and bars were eligible for economic aid equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss, with a cap of $10 million per business and $5 million per location. The funds were available for certain eligible uses, like payroll and rent.