Area restaurant and bar owners still reeling from COVID mitigations will be able to apply for grant assistance on Monday. The U.S. Small Business Administration is opening the registration process for the Restaurant Revitalization Grant funding tomorrow, Friday, April 30th.
President of the Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation, Kristin Jamison says businesses such as restaurants, bars, caterers, wineries, or breweries can qualify for the grant. She says any business that has at least 33% of its revenue from serving food or drink can register.
Jamison says it’s really simple for business owners to calculate if they qualify for the grant and how much they could qualify for.
“If you go to restaurants.sba.gov and all of the particulars are there. So Friday morning beginning at 8:00 am central time that registration opens. So every entity that is eligible should register. And then what happens on Monday at 11:00 am central time, they actually open the application portal.
So that gives our folks some time over the next couple of days to really look through and to understand the requirements, understand the kind of documentation that’s needed, and how to get things in order so that things will go smoothly on Monday.”
Jamison says the SBA has made the process as easy as possible.
“There is actually a YouTube video that the SBA has included that really shows you the portal so there shouldn’t be any surprises when a business owner goes to that page and is actually putting the application in.
You know a lot of programs have been pushed throughout the pandemic and let’s just say if you have all of your affairs in order and that you’ve been able to apply for any of these other programs, this one should not be any different than that. I think that they mentioned within twenty minutes you can apply for the program.”
Jamison says there are also special provisions for underserved groups such as minorities and veterans. She says that does not mean that business owners who do not fall into one of those groups shouldn’t apply.
She says regardless, business owners who qualify for the grant should have all of their materials ready to go on Monday at 11:00 am. Jamison says in fact the SBA has an open mind when it comes to requirements such as the length of time a qualifying entity has actually been in business.
“I do believe that even if you were not in operation throughout the entire pandemic or you are right now ramping up to open, there is some relief for those types of businesses as well. There are different ways to calculate the amount of relief you could be eligible for, and again on that restaurants.sba.gov website, it really will explain and I think there are three different categories you can fit into based on the time period you were in operation and how you would apply. So they have done their due diligence to really try and include as many businesses as possible with this Restaurant Revitalization Fund.”
The registration process opens tomorrow, Friday, April 30th at 8:00 am and applications can be submitted beginning at 11:00 am Monday, May 3rd. To register, apply or to find out more information, go to restaurants.sba.gov.