Today, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the release of $83 million dollars in unobligated Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) grants to 169 operators with pending applications.

The National Restaurant Association has been requesting these funds be released, and Executive Vice President of Public Affairs Sean Kennedy made the following statement in response:

“The SBA’s action represents the final chapter of our nearly three-year effort to secure dedicated federal pandemic relief dollars for local restaurants. Today’s announcement is great news for those 169 operators fortunate enough to receive an RRF grant, but hundreds of thousands more are struggling with uncertainty.

“We must continue to look forward because the enormous challenges of the industry will continue beyond today. From the recruitment of employees to the constantly rising costs for food, running a restaurant right now is a daily struggle. There are steps the government can take to support restaurants in every community, and we will continue to press for solutions at the federal, state, and local level.”

According to the SBA, the grants are being released to operators in the order their applications were received. Operators receiving funds should receive notification today and SBA will begin transmitting the grants next week. They have until March 2023 to spend the money.

The Association was first to lay out the plan(Opens in a new window) for a restaurant industry recovery fund to Congress in April 2020. Congress eventually set aside $28.6 billion dollars for the RRF in the American Rescue Plan Act. After this money was distributed, more than 177,000 applications were left in limbo at the SBA.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report(Opens in a new window) in July, noting SBA was holding unobligated RRF funds and the Association was first to send a letter(Opens in a new window) to SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman requesting that the unobligated money be released to unfunded applicants.

The restaurant industry was the hardest hit by the pandemic. In the initial shutdowns, more than eight million industry employees were laid off or furloughed. The industry still has not recreated 565,000 jobs(Opens in a new window) lost at that time, which is the largest current employment deficit caused by the pandemic among all U.S. industries. More than 90,000 restaurants closed permanently or long-term because of the pandemic.