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.

[Ani_ · Accepted solution]

On Thursday 5/29, we hosted a Q&A with the US Small Business Administration about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. 

In the Q&A, the SBA and Square answered questions about the application process — from general eligibility requirements to more specific information that applied to individual sellers. 

Here’s some important information that applies to most sellers:

• 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?

  
  
  • We will try to answer as many additional questions as possible here through the weekend.
    
    
  • Call the SBA call center hotline (844-279-8898): 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.

[jasonbrumb]

Hello all,

I read through the RFF Q&A - per the info given:

"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."

The registration window is now open and I do not see an area on my dashboard to register.

Is there no need to register at all through Square if I'm applying through Square?

Thank you in advance!

[Ani_]

Hi @jasonbrumb, There is no registration needed when applying through Square. The ‘application window’ pertains to when the applications open on Monday, May 3 at 12:00 PM EST.

[mayadelsol]

Do i qualify for RRF if i open my business in January 2021?? 

[ashc]

Hi @mayadelsol,

We are no longer answering questions about the RRF fund at this time.

I moved your post to the existing past Q&A that happened because there are a ton of questions in here with answers that will most likely answer your question.

[ek11]

Hello, I only use Square for credit card processing and is not connected with my POS.. is it still better to apply RRF through Square?

[ashc]

Hi @ek11,

The time has passed in the Live Q&A thread for RRF questions but I moved your post here as one of the existing questions/answers may be able to answer your question.

[chiyachai]

Gross sales includes discounts etc.  where as net sales is gross - cash/order discounts. On the application for RRF would we be reporting gross sales or net sales?

[richardsgoat]

For businesses such as many bars that include sales tax in a flat price to customers, will there be a way on the Restaurant Revitalization app via Square to subtract this number from gross to get the correct amount for the application for 2019 and 2020? The gross sales in Square are over-reported for this reason and would give us a larger amount of grant than we are actually eligible for and would not match up with our sales tax forms.