RRF Alert: Urgent Advice for Restaurants Seeking Relief Grants

Starting this Monday, May 3, at 11:00am CDT, restaurants and other businesses that serve food and beverages can apply for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants. The SBA is STRONGLY recommending applications be made as soon as possible after the program is live. They suggest completing the sample draft application in advance so the response may be input quickly and simply on Monday morning.

Applicants can register online at restaurants.sba.gov starting this Friday at 8:00am to make sure there are no technical problems on Monday.

How much assistance is available?
Grant funds available are equal to the decrease in gross revenues in 2020 compared to 2019, and subtracting the amount of PPP loans received, limited to $5,000,000 per location. 2020 gross receipts will exclude PPP loan, SBA Section 1112 debt relief, SBA EIDL loan, SBA advance, targeted SBA advance, and local small business grants.

What businesses are eligible for RRF grants?
Eligible entities include:

• Restaurants
• Food stands, food trucks, food carts
• Caterers
• Bars, saloons, lounges, taverns
• Licensed facilities or premises of alcoholic beverage producers where the public may taste, sample, or purchase products
• Other similar places of business in which the public or patrons assemble for the primary purpose of being served food or drink
• Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars

The following businesses may also qualify if they meet certain additional eligibility criteria:

• Bakeries
• Brewpubs, tasting rooms, taprooms
• Breweries and/or microbreweries
• Wineries and distilleries
• Inns

What information is required in the SBA application?
Applicants must provide the following information in the application process:

• 2020 gross receipts
• 2019 gross receipts
• Dollar amount of PPP Loans received to date (SBA system should populate this automatically)

In addition, you must be able to provide one of the following forms of documentation to for support:

• Federal tax return (preferred)
• Point of sale report
• Externally or internally prepared financial statements (this could delay the SBA review for over 14 days)

The SBA online application will automatically prepare a required 4506-T request for transcript. For operating account deposit details, online linking can be used, or you may need to manually input routing and account numbers, but either way, you will need 3 months of bank statements to prove ownership of the account.

Anything else applicants should know?
Priority will be given to companies owned >50% by women, veterans, and socially and/or economically disadvantaged individuals.

It’s important to note that an application is required for each EIN. There are differing calculations allowed depending on when operations began. For example, businesses may qualify if they opened during 2020 or 2021, or even if they had not opened as of March 11, 2021, but had still incurred eligible expenses.

To reiterate: it’s vitally important to review the sample application form carefully before Monday. Once the application process begins, it’s first come, first served.

What if I need help?
You can call the SBA Helpline at 1-844-279-8898. And as always, your Weiss accounting professional is ready to help in any way we can.