The California Restaurant Foundation is looking to help San Diego County restaurant owners who were hit last year by a revolving series of shutdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic, taking a devastating toll on their businesses.
The CRF, a local non-profit supporting California's restaurant workforce, has established a "Restaurants Care Resilience Fund" in partnership with California electric companies with $1.25 million to go to restaurants that were hit economically over the last year.
Each single-unit restaurant with 50 or fewer employees can apply for a grant of up to $3,500 to use on payroll and related expenses in order to free up funds for other needs, the CRF said.
"We’re helping restaurants keep their crew on payroll, while also offering a safety net for when things get tough," CRF Executive Director Alycia Harshfield said. "While we’re delighted to see restaurants opening up and COVID cases drop, the recovery will take years and we’re doing what we can to help.”
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The application window is open through Sunday, April 18.
To qualify for the grant, a restaurant must currently be open and have experienced a revenue loss of at least 20% between 2019 and 2020. Priority will be given to restaurants owned by women and people of color.
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The grant is available to restaurants in the following counties: Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Joaquin.
The resilience fund was created with donations from San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric and SoCalGas.
