SBA Announces Official Restaurant Revitalization Fund Application and Guidelines
Economic relief prioritized for underserved communities
WASHINGTON – SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman has announced key details on application requirements, eligibility, and a program guide for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RFF). The restaurant industry has been among the hardest-hit sectors during the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To help bring jobs back and revive the industry, the American Rescue Plan, signed into law by President Joe Biden, established the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA will administer the funds to the hardest-hit small restaurants.
“Today, we are starting the process to help restaurants and bars across the country devastated by the pandemic, and this is our message: Help is here. With the launch of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, we’re prioritizing funding to the hardest-hit small businesses – irreplaceable gathering places in our neighborhoods and communities that need a lifeline now to get back on their feet,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman on April 17, 2021. “And, thanks to clear directives from Congress, we’re rolling out this program to make sure that these businesses can meet payroll, purchase supplies, and get what they need in place to transition to today’s COVID-restricted marketplace.”
Administrator Guzman emphasized, “We’re also focused on ensuring that the RRF program’s application process is streamlined and free of burdensome, bureaucratic hurdles – while still maintaining robust oversight. Under my leadership, the SBA aims to be as entrepreneurial as the entrepreneurs we serve – and that means meeting every small business where they are, and giving them the support they need to recover, rebuild and thrive.”
Under this announcement, details on application requirements, eligibility, and a program guide are now available in English at www.sba.gov/restaurants or in Spanish at www.sba.gov/restaurantes.
Ahead of the application launch and over the next two weeks, the SBA will establish a seven-day pilot period for the RRF application portal and conduct extensive outreach and training. The pilot period will be used to address technical issues ahead of the public launch. Participants in this pilot will be randomly selected from existing PPP borrowers in priority groups for RRF and will not receive funds until the application portal is open to the public.
Following the pilot, the application portal will be opened to the public. The official application launch date will be announced at a later date. For the first 21 days that the program is open, the SBA will prioritize reviewing applications from small businesses owned by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Following the 21-day period, all eligible applicants are encouraged to submit applications.
The groundwork for this announcement is the result of a comprehensive effort to reach out to diverse stakeholders in order to understand the needs and barriers restaurants face in accessing emergency relief aid.
“Local restaurants and bars are being served very good news today,” said Erika Polmar, Executive Director of the Independent Restaurant Coalition. “These guidelines were crafted by the SBA after conversations with independent restaurant and bar operators across the country. We are grateful to the SBA for their hard work to make this process as accessible as possible in a short period of time. It is clear the SBA and the Biden Administration care deeply about ensuring businesses struggling the most can quickly and effectively use this relief program, and we look forward to continued conversations and collaboration to ensure this fund works as intended for the independent restaurant and bar community.”
Community business leaders from underserved communities also welcomed RRF assistance as much-needed economic relief and are working with their broad membership bases to navigate the grant application process.
“In addition to historically having less operating liquidity and revenue than almost any other small business demographic, Black-owned restaurants received significantly less stimulus funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, heightening challenges and leading to disproportionate closures,” said Ron Busby, Sr., president and CEO, U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. “The USBC believes this initiative and collaboration with the SBA will bring needed resources and relief to these often underserved businesses to aid in stabilization, recovery and ultimately, strengthen our economy.”
In addition to restaurant groups and leading advocacy groups for underserved business communities, the SBA has engaged national and state trade associations, and other small business stakeholders in recent weeks to understand their concerns about relief programs.
“Small and independent craft breweries are vibrant community gathering places that can be found in nearly every congressional district in the U.S. and contribute to manufacturing, hospitality, retail, tourism, and agricultural industries,” said Bob Pease, president and CEO, Brewers Association. “We are pleased to work with the SBA to promote the Restaurant Revitalization Fund landing page and its available resources, and assist the breweries hit hardest by COVID-19 secure much needed additional relief to help them survive the pandemic and prepare for the restart of the economy.”
At all levels, the SBA will continue engaging with stakeholder communities to inform and design delivery of financial assistance programs. As the SBA builds and prepares to roll out the program, this dedicated SBA website is the best source for up-to-date information for eligible restaurants interested in the RRF.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
Read MoreSBA Approves Nearly $350 Million in PPP Loans in Georgia in January
ATLANTA – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved nearly $530 Million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in Georgia in the round of funding that re-opened in January.
The SBA re-opened the PPP Jan. 11 with $284 billion appropriated through the Economic Aid Act. So far in this round of funding, 7,706 PPP loans valued at nearly $530 million have been approved by the SBA in Georgia. As part of ongoing transparency of economic aid programs, the SBA recently released data summarizing loan approvals made through Jan. 24, 2021.
In the SBA Southeast Region – which serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee – more than 53,000 PPP loans valued at more than $1.7 billion have been approved.
Nationally, more than 400,000 loans valued at more than $35 billion have been approved this round. Overall, the average loan size is $87,000. Accumulatively, all PPP loans approved in 2020 combined with this round include more than 5.5 million PPP loans totaling $557.8 billion.
“This current round of PPP was designed to ensure increased access to funds for minority, underserved, veteran, and women-owned small businesses,” said Terri Denison, SBA Georgia District Director. “To address potential access to capital barriers, PPP access was initially granted exclusively to community financial institutions (CFIs) that typically serve these concerns. The SBA remains committed to assisting entrepreneurs in areas that may not have had an opportunity to utilize the program during round one of PPP as well as business owners that are prepared to apply for a second draw PPP loan to continue their recovery.”
The full Jan. 24, 2021 PPP Report includes national information on lender types, loan sizes, industries, and borrower demographics.
The data released in the report is a snapshot of the PPP loan portfolio as of Jan. 24, 2021. Any loan changes or cancellations made after this date will be not reflected in the report.
Approximately 4,500 lenders nationwide are participating in the PPP this round. PPP loans are made by lending institutions and then guaranteed by the SBA.
To best serve underserved communities – including minority-, women- and veteran-owned small businesses – the SBA has provided dedicated access to community financial institutions (CFIs) that specialize in serving these communities. At least $15 billion is set aside for PPP lending by CFIs which include Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), Certified Development Companies (CDCs) and Microloan Intermediaries. The CFIs may be located (as well as all PPP lenders) by utilizing Lender Match.
While the PPP loan application expressly requests demographic information of borrowers so that the agency can better understand which small businesses are benefiting from PPP loans, the data reflects the information submitted by lenders to the SBA.
The SBA Georgia District continues to work in close partnership with the local SBA Resource Partner Network and expand on multilingual access and outreach about the PPP.
The deadline to apply for a PPP loan is March 31, 2021 or until appropriated funding runs out.
Updated PPP information – including forms, guidance, resources, lender information and data– is at www.sba.gov/ppp.
Information about all SBA coronavirus relief funding is available at www.sba.gov/coronavirusrelief.
Read MoreDocumenting Material Adverse Changes: Selling a Business in the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on all U.S. businesses, but that doesn’t mean the owners won’t be able to sell.
Thomas Rockwood, Vice President of SBA Lending at Atlantic Capital Bank, outlined for the Georgia Association of Business Brokers what documents business sellers should prepare if they are anticipating selling their business in the near future. Rockwood spoke to a virtual GABB meeting on June 23, 2020.
The pandemic could affect any pending contract because it constitutes a Material Adverse Change (abbreviated MAC), material adverse event (MAE), or material adverse effect (also MAE). In other words, changes triggered by COVID-19 COULD significantly reduce a company’s value because it could impact how the company operates in the future. Many contracts to acquire, invest in, or lend money to a company contain a term that allows the acquirer, investor, or lender to cancel the transaction if a material adverse change occurs and does directly affect SBA Eligibility for a loan.
“A material adverse change can happen to anybody at any time,” Rockwood noted. It’s critical for business owners to document how the event affected their business in order to borrow SBA funds and obtain a favorable purchase price.
When collecting sellers’ financials, SBA lenders will want to see:
- Last 3 years Filed Business Tax Returns
- 2019 FYE Financials to include
- P&L, Balance Sheet, AR & AP Aging Report & Debt Schedule
- 2020 YTD Financials to include
- P&L, Balance Sheet, AR & AP Aging Report & Debt Schedule
“We’re in this place where we have no idea what tomorrow looks like,” Rockwood said. “What are the things we can control?”
A seller can document the impact of the pandemic or other MAE on their business by showing month-by-month P&L comparisons. Did the seller’s business bounce back in June? Another helpful strategy would be identifying sales by customer, showing key customers and how they were affected by the MAE. Sales by product could also be beneficial, Rockwood said.
Preparing a memo of understanding could help a buyer, Rockwood said, because it describes in detail what is going on with a business. For example, if sales go up, but net profits go down, what happened? A memo could explain that labor costs rose and the business had to hire more people to move the product out the door.
If a seller can “bookend the start and end of MAC,” that’s going to help paint a strong picture for a business buyer on what happened to the business, Rockwood said.
Sellers ought to come up with a playbook of operations of how the business has or plans to keep employees safe, so that a potential buyer can walk in and continue running the business smoothly. Although some sellers stay on and advise buyers, sometimes they don’t. That playbook will help a new owner because it “outlines what the seller did, how they handled the situation, and gives some advice to the new buyer.”
“It’s the seller’s company, and they know it better than anybody else could,” Rockwood said. “That will be very beneficial to any buyers who want to buy a business.”
A video recording of the meeting is linked here.
Mr. Rockwood’s presentation is available here.
Preparing to Sell After the Pandemic
Mr. Rockwood has spent more than 16 years working with companies to provide government guaranteed lending solutions. He has a B.S. in Marketing & Business from Central Washington University; and an M.B.A. in Marketing Management, Regis University.In addition to being a GABB member, Mr. Rockwood is an executive board member of the Georgia Lenders Quality Circle (GLQC) and a member of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL).
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers, the state’s largest and most prominent association of professionals dedicated to the purchase and sale of businesses and franchises, is holding brief weekly meetings online during the pandemic. Business brokers, bankers, business attorneys and other professionals join the weekly calls to ask and answer questions about buying and selling a business during the pandemic.
To join the GABB’s Tuesday meetings, please go to
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/95506520094?pwd=WXdtNjhQVmRSWWdDNk5nV2lHZnNKdz09
Meeting ID: 955 0652 0094
Password: 054703
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