Juice Bars are Eligible for The Restaurant Revitalization Fund

The government is rolling out a new type of COVID relief, specifically for restaurants and they are calling it the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Juice bars, restaurants, and bars are eligible. The official description of the program:

“This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.”

This program is going to be a huge help for juice bars and restaurants who had lower than normal sales in 2020 due to forced shutdowns.

The List of Eligible recipients:

• Restaurants
• Food stands, food trucks, food carts
• Caterers
• Bars, saloons, lounges, taverns
• Snack and nonalcoholic beverage bars
• Bakeries (onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts)
• Brewpubs, tasting rooms, taprooms (onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts)
• Breweries and/or microbreweries (onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts)
• Wineries and distilleries (onsite sales to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts)
• Inns (onsite sales of food and beverage to the public comprise at least 33% of gross receipts)
• Licensed facilities or premises of a beverage alcohol producer where the public may taste, sample, or purchase products

How Much You Can Receive

The formula depends on how long you’ve been in business. There is even relief available for companies who spent money in 2020 but aren’t open yet.

• Calculation 1: for applicants in operation prior to or on January 1, 2019: 2019 gross receipts minus 2020 gross receipts minus PPP loan amounts
• Calculation 2: for applicants that began operations partially through 2019: (Average 2019 monthly gross receipts x 12) minus 2020 gross receipts minus PPP loan amounts
• Calculation 3: for applicants that began operations on or between January 1, 2020 and March 10, 2021 and applicants not yet opened but have incurred eligible expenses: Amount spent on eligible expenses between February 15, 2020 and March 11, 2021 minus 2020 gross receipts minus 2021 gross receipts (through March 11, 2021) minus PPP loan amounts

For those entities who began operations partially through 2019, you may elect (at your own discretion) to use either calculation 2 or calculation 3.

Example

So, if you normally do $2M in gross receipts (sales) and in 2020 you only received $1M in gross receipts, plus $100k in PPP, you are eligible for $900K in funding.

The money may be spent on a list of qualified expenses. The list appears to be basically all regular day-to-day expenses for a food and beverage business, and even includes outdoor furniture.

How to apply:

“You can apply through SBA-recognized Point of Sale (POS) vendors or directly via SBA in a forthcoming online application portal: https://restaurants.sba.gov. Participating POS providers include Square, Toast, Clover, NCR Corporation (Aloha). If you are working with Square or Toast, you do not need to register beforehand on the https://restaurants.sba.gov application portal.”

Registration for the SBA application portal will begin on Friday, April 30, 2021, at 9 am ET. Applications will open on Monday, May 3, 2021, at noon ET.

Funds are limited to about $10B, so there is a chance that not everyone who applies will receive funding. Make sure you apply early!

The information on this blog article may be out of date, please refer directly to the SBA Website for the most up-to-date information.