Live Q&A: Restaurant Revitalization Fund for Square Food and Beverage Sellers

[Ani_]

Hi Seller Community!

I'm excited to announce the Small Business Administration has developed a partnership with Square to distribute the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) relief to the food and drink industry. The Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) is part of the U.S. Government’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This plan includes a $28.6B fund for awards to eligible food and beverage business owners, administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). 

On Thursday, April 29th at 1:30-2:30 PM PST /4:30 PM-5:30 EST, we'll host a Live Q&A with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to answer any of your questions about the application process. Please make sure to ask any questions directly on this thread below. Keep in mind, the SBA will only be addressing questions related to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), not PPP.  

How does the application process work?

We expect to start enabling applications for the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) on Monday, May 3rd at 12:00 PM EST. The award application program is owned by the SBA, and they are finalizing the process. We know how important these funds are to you and your business, so we are working as quickly as possible to get the application ready!  

Unlike the PPP program, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund are awards and are not loans. They are not serviced as loans, and have no forgiveness component. There are no intermediary banks involved. Awards are determined by and allocated by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and not Square.

If you qualify for a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant, you’ll have the option to apply Monday, May 3rd on Square Dashboard or through the SBA’s secure website. To help support applicants throughout the process, the SBA will offer phone and district office support.

• Call center hotline (844-279-8898): Applicants can call this number for multi-lingual application or program support. 
• SBA District Offices: Applicants can reach out to their local District Office for tailored regional SBA support.

For more information about eligibility or to start your application, please visit the SBA Portal. You can also find more information about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund on the Support Center. Let us know if you have any questions for the SBA below!

Note: 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.

[ACAcatering]

Recently, the SBA has announced the Restaurant Revitalization Fund that will be available (and is directed at small businesses) many businesses within the food retail business.  A couple of questions for Square would be 1) Are you one of the SBA's POS Restaurant Partners?  They do not currently provide a list of partners.  2) If so, will you be participating in this funding?  3) If so, how fast will the your application be available?  This appears to be on a first come, first served basis after a few other groups are cleared.  
If this is something square customers are interested in, you do NOT have to use a bank or Square to apply for this funding. This can be applied for directly through the SBA when it becomes available.  I do hope to use Square if they participate, but will not hesitate to apply through the SBA if it's not a quick rollout.
Here's a link to the SBA's FAQ page regarding this funding.

[Ani_]

Hi @ACAcatering! We've moved your question over to this recent post. If you have any additional questions for the SBA please reply below! They will be answering questions on Thursday, April 29th at 1:30-2:30 PM PST /4:30-5:30 PM EST.

[Ani_]

Hi @ACAcatering, for the first 21 days that the application is open, the SBA is prioritizing applications from those that have self-certified that they meet the eligibility requirements for a small business owned by women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. You can learn more about this at sba.gov/restaurants.

Applications will be available via the Square Dashboard and SBA portal beginning on May 3.

[SteveMahr5566]

We utilized ChowNow for our online ordering in 2019 and 2020. If we apply for RRF through Square, are we able to include our gross receipts from ChowNow as part of that application?  The gross receipts from both Square and ChowNow are included on our 2019 and 2020 1065 forms.

[ACAcatering]

If you read through the SBA's FAQ page that I listed above, you will find exactly where you need to look on your 1065.  If you're an LLC, I believe the lines you need to compare are 1c from your 1065's from each year.  Check the site to double check that info.

[Ani_]

Hi @SteveMahr5566 - Yes, you will be able to include additional revenue. After completing your application through Square, you will be directed to an SBA website to finish. You may need to upload supporting documentation there.

[LedgeBrewingCo]

When will Square be accepting applications?

Also, being a brewery/tasting room, we need to demonstrate that 33% of our sales were onsite (in fact all of our sales are), will square have an established sales report that will help demonstrate this?

[Populuxe]

I'd hope they'd be able to figure this out by subtracting wholesale from overall revenue.  We set up all of our outbound kegs and cans as a separate category so as to not collect sales tax on them.  Should be pretty straight forward wholesale vs on site retail.

[Ani_]

Hey @Populuxe - It sounds like you may want to include supporting documentation that Square does not support. We recommend you apply through SBA’s portal. Beginning Friday 4/30 at 9 AM EST you’ll be able to register with the SBA.

[ChukE]

If we have Gross receipts through online apps such as Doordash, would you still recommend using Square?

[Ani_]

@ChukE You will be able to include additional income if you decide to apply with Square. The SBA may require you to add some additional documentation in regards to this income after you submit your application.

[Ani_]

Hi @LedgeBrewingCo, you will need to apply through the SBA portal. You are able to download a CSV of your Square processing data from your Square account Dashboard under Reports. You can also find your 1099k on your Square Dashboard by navigating to Account & Settings, Business, and Tax Forms.

[Homefieldbrew]

Why should I apply through square and not the sba?

[aacole]

My SBDC partner says it's highly likely that the SBA site will crash. Square portal s/b more stable and accept applications May 3 with less likelihood that the we get kicked back in line.

[ThirdPlaceJen]

My sentiment exactly. 

[Ani_]

Hey @Homefieldbrew, by applying through Square, you save time completing and submitting your application with pre filled data from your Square account. While you may be able to increase the size of your award by applying via the SBA website, submitting through Square can help  get your application in front of the SBA quickly - before the RRF funds run out.  

[ChukE]

Hello Ani, could you please explain "While you may be able to increase the size of your award"?

[Ani_]

Hi @ChukE, @ADYA1,@Oldeline22 ! Square will pre-fill your application with the information we have available on your account. We will also enable you to add supplemental income information from ther sources. However, we will not provide the opportunity to submit documentation for any additional qualifying expenses for which we have no information. As such applying through the SBA may increase the size of your reward. We believe that applying through Square will help get your application submitted faster - and the RRF funds will not last long so you need to make a decision on how you prioritize submission speed versus the change to get a higher monetary award.

[ADYA1]

Hi @Ani_ - why would the award size be different if you applied through SBA vs Square?

[CB2020]

This response is extremely concerning. The award should be the same wherever you apply according to the SBA.

[PPastry]

I am wondering when applications will be open.  Will square inform us or do we have to be checking the site throughout the days weeks?  Also wondering what is best applying thru square or the SBA site?  This can be very stressful since it is  first come first serve.  I am also offering to be used to test beta test the portal if needed.