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Restaurant Revitalization Fund application portal opens on May 3

Registration for the grant begins April 30. The Seattle Office of Economic Development will offer technical assistance for businesses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration will open the application portal for the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) on Monday, May 3, 2021, at 9 a.m. PDT. Eligible applicants should register for an account in advance at restaurants.sba.gov starting this Friday, April 30, 2021. Once businesses register for an account, they will be able to complete their application by uploading the required documents to the application portal on May 3. Eligible businesses are eligible for up to $5 million in funding per location, not to exceed $10 million total for the applicant and affiliated businesses. The Office of Economic Development (OED) encourages all eligible applicants to submit applications as soon as the portal opens and will be providing technical assistance for business owners, including bilingual assistance in multiple languages. Additionally, the SBA Seattle District Office will host an information session on Friday, April 30 at 2 p.m. PDT. You can register for this information session here or watch a previously recorded session here.

SBA will accept applications from all eligible applicants once the portal opens. However, for the first 21 days that RRF is open, the SBA will prioritize processing applications from businesses owned and controlled by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Following the 21 days, all eligible applications will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis. The online application will remain open to any eligible establishment until all funds are exhausted.

“The Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide much needed support to our local businesses that have done everything in their power to just hold on. Our office is proud to be a part of a network that is committed to connecting as many eligible businesses as possible — especially our businesses owned by people of color, immigrants, refugees and those whose first language is not English — to the necessary information and support that will help them be successful in applying for these grants.”

Pamela Banks, Interim Director of the Seattle Office of Economic Development

To prepare for the application, businesses should:

  • Register for an account in advance at restaurants.sba.gov starting this Friday, April 30, 2021.
  • Review the RRF overview, RRF program guide and RRF application sample (all available in multiple languages). For additional details, visit sba.gov/restaurants or sba.gov/restaurantes in Spanish.
  • Prepare the required documentation including:
    • Verification for Tax Information: IRS Form 4506-T, completed and signed by Applicant. Completion of this form digitally on the SBA platform will satisfy this requirement.
    • Gross Receipts Documentation.
    • Valid unexpired Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers are acceptable.
    • Note: Applicants do not need to register with SAM.gov, and SBA will not require a DUNS or CAGE identifier.
  • Work with a point-of-sale (POS) vendor.
    • SBA partnered with POS vendors Clover, NCR Corporation, Square and Toast to make the application process easier.
    • For businesses that utilize Square or Toast as their POS vendor, they can register and apply directly through their POS vendor and not the SBA. For businesses working with Clover and NCR, they will need to apply through the SBA portal, but may use their POS reports as part of the application process.
  • Attend live virtual webinars and trainings:
    • Information session hosted by SBA Seattle District Office on Friday, April 30 at 2 p.m. PDT; staff available to answer questions throughout the presentation and with dedicated Q&A time at the end | Register here by selecting date.
    • If you cannot attend SBA’s webinars live, recordings will be posted on SBA’s YouTube channel.
    • Note: If bilingual assistance is needed for the webinar, please notify the SBA in advance as they will do their best to accommodate a translator line for the language requested.
    • OED will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, May 4 from 12-1 p.m. PDT. Desiree Albrecht with SBA Seattle District Office will be joining OED to share an overview of the fund, discuss program details and answer any questions district partners or businesses may have. Click this link to join the meeting on May 4.

About the Restaurant Revitalization Fund

The American Rescue Plan Act established the RRF to provide funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open. Recipients are not required to repay the funding if funds are spent on eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023, including:

  • Business payroll costs (including sick leave)
  • Payments on any business mortgage obligation
  • Business rent payments (note: this does not include prepayment of rent)
  • Business debt service (both principal and interest; this does not include any prepayment of principal or interest)
  • Business utility payments
  • Business maintenance expenses
  • Construction of outdoor seating
  • Business supplies (including protective equipment and cleaning materials)
  • Business food and beverage expenses (including raw materials)
  • Covered supplier costs
  • Business operating expenses

To be eligible, entities must not be permanently closed and be a business where the public or patrons assemble for the primary purpose of being served food or drink. Eligible entities include:

  • Restaurants
  • Food stands, food trucks, food carts
  • Caterers
  • Bars, saloons, lounges, taverns
  • Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars (e.g., coffee shops, ice cream shops)
  • Bakeries*
  • Brewpubs, tasting rooms, taprooms*
  • Breweries and/or microbreweries*
  • Wineries and distilleries*
  • Inns*
  • Licensed facilities or premises of a beverage alcohol producer where the public may taste, sample or purchase products

*If onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts.

Entities are ineligible if any of the following apply:

  • The entity owned or operated more than 20 locations as of March 13, 2020, regardless of whether those locations do business under the same or different names or are in different industries.
  • The business has a pending application for or has received a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
  • The business is permanently closed.
  • The entity is a state or local government-operated business.
  • The business is a publicly traded company or is a nonprofit organization.

Businesses can apply over the phone at 1-844-279-8898 if they do not have reliable internet, however processing times may be longer.

For assistance preparing the application, business owners can access the following:

RRF applications must be submitted in English or Spanish. For more information, visit sba.gov/restaurants or this SBA announcement.

Para obtener información en español, visite sba.gov/restaurantes.

OED continues to support business owners by connecting them to resources from the federal government such as the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, Paycheck Protection Program, RRF and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, as well as other resources that are available from the state and philanthropic partners. OED also provides in-language technical assistance to access city, state and federal resources. Businesses can access this service by calling 206-684-8090 or emailing oed@seattle.gov. Bilingual assistance is available in Amharic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Somali, Spanish, Thai, Tigrinya and Vietnamese. To request in-language assistance, businesses can call 206-684-8090 and note the following information: name, phone number, preferred language and the type of support needed.

The Seattle Office of Economic Development is committed to building an equitable and inclusive economy by promoting access to economic opportunities for all of Seattle’s diverse communities. For more information, visit seattle.gov/EconomicDevelopment.

Small business owner pouring drinks.