Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the food and beverage industry, and my beloved donut shops are no exception. While there is positive progression on the $2 trillion rescue package (it’s expected to be passed by the Senate tonight), many independent restaurants and small businesses are in need of cash flow NOW.
Here’s where you can go for relief funds and grants while waiting for federal aid:
Databases
Check out the below databases (many are crowdsourced spreadsheets) which are searchable by geographic area or relief type:
Relief Funds
- One Fair Wage: no-strings-attached cash assistance for restaurant workers, car service drivers, delivery workers, personal service workers and more.
- Rally For Restaurants: gift card (micro-loan) program launched by Toast POS. For every social media mention, Toast will give $1 to organizations supporting the community through Toast.org (up to $250,000). Qualifying posts must use the hashtag #RallyForRestaurants and tag (@mention) the restaurant where the gift card was purchased. Add your restaurant to Toast’s directory for free here.
- CORE Gives: Gives grants to support children of food and beverage service employees.
- Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation: Emergency relief fund to give restaurants zero-interest loans, provide direct relief to restaurant workers, and donate to other nonprofits serving restaurant workers.
- Another Round Another Rally: Offering $500 relief grants and accepting donations to help affected food service/hospitality workers.
- James Beard Foundation Food & Beverage Industry Relief Fund: A new fund that will provide micro-grants to independent food and beverage businesses in need. Applications will be available soon — subscribe for updates here.
For trouble paying the bills
- Rental Assistance, a directory of agenies to help you pay rent.
- United Way created a 2-1-1 call service if you’re unable to pay critical bills, childcare or other essential needs.
- Talk to your vendors, incuding your landlord, utility providers, POS and other servicers. Some landlords are completely waiving rent for this month or defering payments temporarily. You never know what kind of deals you can get unless you ask.
For more resources:
- Read “How Restaurants Can Adapt to Coronavirus” post here.
- Check out The James Beard Foundation’s COVID-19 advocacy toolkit.
- Sign up for updates on Facebook’s small business grant program here.
- Learn tips and required documentation to apply for a Disaster Loan from the SBA here.
