Sacramento County restaurants owned by women or POC are eligible for $3,500 in grants

A $1.25 million California Restaurant Foundation pool will open to Sacramento County eateries Sunday, with an emphasis on those owned by oft-neglected groups.

The Restaurants Care Resilience Fund will give up to $3,500 in grants per restaurant in eight major California counties, including Sacramento. Funded by PG&E as well as SoCalGas and SDG&E, it’s also open to restaurants in Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and San Joaquin counties.

Restaurants must have just one location with less than 50 employees, currently be open and have lost at least 20% of their revenue from 2019-2020 to qualify. Preference will be given to those owned by women and/or people of color, according to a news release.

The money must be used on payroll-related expenses, and restaurants that are awarded grants will also receive long-term support support services from CRF.

“We’re helping restaurants keep their crew on payroll, while also offering a safety net for when things get tough,” California Restaurant Foundation CEO Alycia Harshfield said in the media release. “While we’re delighted to see restaurants opening up and COVID cases drop, the recovery will take years and we’re doing what we can to help.”

Applications are open April 11-18 at www.restaurantscare.org/resilience.