Restaurants Revitalization Fund: Common Questions & Answers

[Ani_]

Hi Food and Beverage Sellers! 

Square will start enabling applications for the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) today Monday, May 3rd at 12:00 PM EST. This plan includes a $28.6 billion fund for awards to eligible businesses, administered by the SBA. Square is working with the SBA to help business owners apply for an award if they are eligible. If you meet the program requirements, you can submit your application through your Square Dashboard or through the SBA Portal. If you are eligible to apply through Square, we will pre-fill your application with information you have on your Square account.

I encourage you all to take a look at the Live Q&A: Restaurant Revitalization Fund for Square Food and Beverage Sellers for common questions and answers. I’ve also included an overview of the Live Q&A below:

When can you apply:

• Applications start on Monday 5/3 at 12:00 p.m EST / 9:00 a.m. PST.
• The SBA has a registration window open on Friday 4/30, but if you plan to apply through Square you do not need to register with the SBA. 

Who can apply through Square:

• To determine if you are an eligible business type, you’ll need to visit SBA’s website (sba.gov/restaurants).
  
• If you processed with Square in 2019 and 2020 (Table 1 or 2 in the RRF application), you can apply through Square’s dashboard or the SBA. If you used multiple POS providers during that period or had supplemental income e.g. from online ordering apps, you can still apply with Square. You’ll be able to add supplementary income information — but the SBA may require you to provide additional documentation before you e-sign your application.
  
• If you began processing with Square in 2020 or 2021 (Table 3 in the RRF application), then you will need to apply through the SBA. You can get useful information from your Square account to include in your application — to learn how, please take a look at our Support Center.

Why you should or should not apply with Square

• If you apply through Square can save time completing and submitting your application with pre filled data from your Square account.
  
• Submitting through Square can help you get your application in front of the SBA quickly — before the RRF funds run out.
  
• Square will enable you to add supplemental revenue information in your application for either Table 1 or Table 2 applicant. However, if you are a Table 3 applicant, you will need to apply via SBA because Square will not let you upload supporting documentation for eligible expenses. 

How can you apply with Square:

• If you are eligible to apply through Square, you’ll need to log in to your dashboard when the application window opens, using the owner’s login. From there, you’ll find a specific RRF module from where you can start your application.
  
• Square will have pre-filled your application with the information we know about your business. That said, there is information we do not have access to. To complete your application as fast as possible we recommend to have the following information handy:
• The date (day, month, and year) you began operations.
• How many months you operate in every location. This is especially important if you operate a seasonal business. 
• Any additional income you may have earned in 2019 and 2020 that was not processed through Square. Ideally you are tracking this income by location. If this information is not available feel free to distribute this across locations ensuring the total revenue by location (through Square and other sources)stays under $5M.
• Your PPP loan information — especially if you did not process these loans with Square.
  
• After submitting your award application through your Square Dashboard, you’ll need to eSign your application. Here’s how it works:
• Open an email from Square with the title “Your RRF award application is not yet complete.” Follow the link in the email to visit the SBA portal.
• If you see a page with the title “Third Party Signup,” you are in the right spot. Enter the text you see in the grey pixelated image in the appropriate field and click Complete Sign Up.
• You’ll then receive an email from SBA with the title “SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund - Password Reset E-mail.” Click the link included in the email to reset your password.
• Once you complete your password reset, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Sign and Submit Application to sign your application via DocuSign.
• The SBA may also require additional documentation for your application if you indicated revenue outside of Square. From the SBA portal, you will be able to upload supporting documentation to the Additional Info Needed section if required by the SBA.

How can you get help if you have more questions?

• If you have more granular questions about the application process, eligibility, or awards, please reach out to the designated SBA helpline (844-279-8898) or the SBA district office. Applicants can call this number for multilingual application or program support.
• Reach out to your SBA District Office: Applicants can reach out to their local District Office for tailored regional SBA support.

Note: You will be able to apply through Square if we have available processing data for at least a portion of 2019 and 2020 available through your Square account. If you are able to apply through Square, you will see a module on your online Square Dashboard prompting you to begin the application. If you apply through Square you do not need to register through the SBA portal. If you began processing with Square in either 2020 or 2021, we recommend that you apply through the SBA Portal. Square will not be able to support these applications and you will not see a module on Dashboard to begin your application.

Update: The SBA has announced that they will officially stop accepting applications for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) on Monday, May 24, at 8 p.m. ET.

[aufdenza]

Hi Everyone. After speaking with SBA I was able to esign the application by going to http://restaurants.sba.gov and clicking forgot user name, this got me my user name and I was able to reset my password, after resetting the password I gained access to the site and was able to esign. I was assured by SBA that my place in line was reserved from when I first submitted my app and not when the Esign was completed. Hope this helps. 

[Juicery]

Was I the only one who had his 2019 gross receipts wrongly calculated by Square? When I first filled out the app through Square right when it opened, Square sent over all my information with a mis-calculated 2019 gross receipt number. It showed as correct in the Square dashboard before sending over. When I viewed it in the SBA site, the 2019 gross receipts were using the number that was supposed to be the annualized number, since we used worksheet #2 and opened in 2019. So, the end result was saying that our grant was three times larger than it should have been. I had to withdraw my application and redo it through the SBA site. It seems like Square would have worked out bugs like this in a competitive grant that is so important. We lost our place in line and had to wait hours before resubmitting through the SBA site. 

[PPub]

You were not the only one. I waited to hear back from square before withdrawing my application, then resubmitting through square. Not sure which one will have the best result. Good luck to you!

[Michael15]

What is the timeframe of getting funded from the RRF

[baroolala]

I submitted my application on Monday right when applications opened. I wasn't allowed to submit any documentation and my numbers were slightly off due to the Table 2 calculation issue but I wasn't able to change them, so e-signed my application and submitted believing that these issues would addressed during review. This morning, on Friday, I wake up to see the RRF button missing from my Square dashboard and instead a button saying Start an Application! When Iogged into the SBA, I no longer have any applications. I did not receive any notice that my application was withdrawn and have had to submit another application today. I could not submit with the SBA because it said I had to apply with my ecosystem partner. I have lost DAYS when I had applied on Monday first thing. Square - please confirm that my place in line will be as of my first application! If I had not noticed the button had changed on my dashboard, how would I have known my application was withdrawn! This is ridiculous and make or break for my business. How will Square make up for this?

[TheGrindNH]

Having the SBA in the middle of this was a risky decision since, in my experience, they're already way, way over their heads.  PPP ran well because they were essentially just about out of the picture.  I bet Square isn't even getting consistent answers from them.  I'd call sba multiple times and compile a list of answers till you feel comfortable it's the right one and ask for a higher tier agent who can assure to put you in your rightful place from Monday.  

[baroolala]

Thanks for the response. Great suggestion - will do that!

[nika]

Hey @baroolala - going to send you a private message.

[baroolala]

Before Square sent a private message, I was able to submit an applications directly with the SBA this morning. 5 days after our original application. We had a smooth experience with Square and the small amount of PPP we were able to get, and relied on Square for facilitating the RRF similarly. In the days before the applications opened, Square assured people on this message board multiple times that Square was ready. We attended multiple RRF trainings to prepare our application, prepared all our docs, was sitting in front of our computer at 8:30am PST. Square failed to communicate how to handle this issue when so many people seem to have been affected and we were directed back and forth between the SBA and Square. I am in tears. We knew that the money could run out and couldn't be assured funding, but at least we thought we would have a good shot if we had all our ducks in a row. Square's updated answer above on Annualizing Receipts is unacceptable and fails to take responsibility.

[Jmaes]

There's no link in my dashboard. What's going on?

[isabelle]

Hey @Jmaes ! I'm going to send you a private message. 

[Ally1411]

Do we need 2019 tax return attached to the application if we apply through square? I did apply through square but it didn’t allow me to upload documents. I only have sales through square and calculating the award using square’s sales.  Are sales on square enough as proof of revenue and bo need tax returns if applied through square? ? ?

[TBlais]

I applied through Square and there was never a place to upload anything. It went almost straight to "under review" and this morning got an award email and status on the portal. Never had to give any other info at all. Also all of my sales were only through Square. Says we should be funded in 3-5 days. We are 50/50 owned. One female, one Veteran. 

[njscalisi]

Hi,

I just received and email from Square saying action required. It stated there was an error is the award calculation and my application has been automatically been withdrawn. It also stated I needed to reapply. When I sign into square and the SBA it says the application is still under review and hasn't been withdrawn. Any advise would be appreciated.

[nika]

Sending you a private message. 👀

[Ally1411]

Do we need 2019 tax return attached to the application if we apply through square? I did apply through square but it didn’t allow me to upload documents. I only have sales through square and calculating the award using square’s sales.  Are sales on square enough as proof of revenue and bo need tax returns if applied through square?

[randalls88]

SOURCE CNN WHITE HOUSE PRESS SEC. PSAKI SAID THE FIRST AWARDS AS PART OF THE PILOT PROGRAM WILL BE RECEIVING FUNDS ON FRIDAY, AND THE BUSINESS THAT STARTED APPLYING THIS WEEK CAN EXPECT UP TO 14 DAYS, ON AVERGAE, FROM SUBMISSION TO FINDING.

[rdbc]

It would appear the Square moderators are deleting comments here criticizing their performance with this program. I highly recommend anyone who has not seen their application move forward immediately stop trying to get help from Square and go straight to the SBA.

Square; @Ani_; any other mod: Please do not delete these comments. Other users need to see where the pain points are and make informed decisions. Your choice to remove posts detailing experiences seems very opaque and shady. Additionally the many moderator responses of "I sent you a private message" does not help the group. These forums are for sharing experiences and troubleshooting. Lastly, the worst thing you guys can be doing is telling us to be patient. Many of us were prepared to submit immediately and trusted you would be equally prepared. Waiting longer for you guys to fail is just unacceptable. If you guys cannot execute we need to know so we can work directly with the SBA.

I'll be tracking whether or not future comments get deleted and if they do I guess we can move the conversation to another platform. Pretty frustrating people of Square.

[walmeda]

Why is my application taking so long to get to the sba for e signature? Please help me!

[spnick]

if you haven't gotten an esig- your application hasn't been submitted to the sba yet

[APRILCAL]

I’ve gotten an e-signature but my status has not been updated since Monday. What should I do