Restech titans Clover ®, NCR Corporation, Square, and Toast were selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as the first round of technology partners participating in a new initiative for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF). The program will allow eligible restaurants and other food establishments to access the RRF application or data they need to fill out the application through their point-of-sale (POS) service providers. The$28.6-billion grant program will provide free monetary awards to restaurants and other F&B businesses suffering financial losses due to the pandemic.
“The SBA is partnering with point-of-sale providers to leverage technology to better reach the smallest businesses that need our help the most. This collaboration is just one example of the many innovative and creative ways we’re connecting with entrepreneurs in the hardest-hit and underserved communities,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. “The SBA must be as entrepreneurial as the entrepreneurs we serve. These partnerships enable us to meet small businesses where they are, instead of waiting for them to come to us.”
Once the SBA announces when applications will be accepted, qualifying restaurants will be able to work directly with their point-of-sale service providers to help them apply for the RRF. Each point-of-sale partner is helping in different ways – from providing a fully integrated application experience, to building pre-packaged point-of-sale documentation, to holding interactive webinars. In all cases, these partnerships allow for thousands of restaurant owners to accelerate their application submission process.
“By working alongside the SBA, we are expediting the Restaurant Revitalization Fund application process for restaurants using Clover or Fiserv technology, facilitating faster access to much-needed capital so they can continue to serve customers and their communities,” said Jeff Dickerson, Head of Clover from Fiserv. “We are proud to do our part to support a critical initiative that will aid restaurant reopening and do so with a focus on revitalizing women-owned, veteran-owned, and minority-owned restaurants. We are working alongside the SBA because we understand the positive impact the RRF grants will have on restaurants and want to do what is best to support our clients and the industry as they move forward and recover from the impact of the pandemic.”
The SBA is working with POS providers like Clover to reach restaurant owners and expedite the grant application process. For example, Clover has developed a simple digital portal for small businesses to securely access the verified statements (POS Reports) required by the SBA during the application process.
In addition to simplifying the application process, Clover is promoting awareness of the SBA RRF opportunity to restaurants in our ecosystem by:
Conducting direct outreach to inform restaurants of the opportunity
Providing educational resources dedicated to answering questions small businesses have related to the RRF
Hosting a small business webinar with the SBA on Thursday, April 28 (1:30 ET); the webinar is open to all small businesses and can be accessed via the link here.
“Restaurants have been scrambling to survive the downturn caused by the pandemic,” said Dirk Izzo, president and general manager, NCR Hospitality. “We are committed and honored to do our part to facilitate access to much-needed financial support for our customers so they can keep their business running.”
Restaurants and other eligible food and beverage sellers can apply for a RRF award directly from Square’s dashboard if they used Square to process customer payments in both 2019 and 2020. Square sellers who processed outside of this timeline are encouraged to apply through the SBA website using Square account data. To learn more about eligibility, and how you can apply for an award, visit Square’s support center here.
“As restaurant sellers prepare for reopening, we’re working with the SBA to provide them with access to the tools and services they need to rebuild,” said Bruce Bell, head of Square for Restaurants. “We’re honored to partner with the SBA in this important initiative, as we continue to support our sellers on the challenging road ahead.”
“Toast is proud to be part of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund story; since March 2020, we’ve written letters to Congress, actively lobbied to help secure this funding for the restaurant industry, and partnered with groups like the Independent Restaurant Coalition to advocate for restaurateurs and their employees throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nick DeLeonardis SVP & GM, Payments, Lending, and Payroll at Toast. “Our actions helped enact meaningful change and allowed us to support our customer community when they needed it most. We’re thrilled to partner with the SBA to deliver access to critical funding for restaurants as the industry approaches recovery in the coming months.”
For the first 21 days of the SBA grant program, the SBA will prioritize processing and awarding funds to businesses that are at least 51 percent owned and controlled by women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. Applications from businesses that do not qualify for this priority period will be submitted for review by the SBA following the priority period.
See here for details on business eligibility criteria, prioritization, eligible expenses, the application process and more. Restaurant owners and operators can learn more about Toast and schedule a personalized demo here.
While SBA encourages applicants to use the POS ecosystem, applicants without access to point-of-sale service providers can submit their applications electronically at restaurants.sba.gov.
SBA is in ongoing conversations with other interested parties to continue to widely and equitably deliver an experience that is centered around who it is serving – owners of restaurants, bars, breweries, bakeries, etc. Point-of-sale service providers who are interested in participating in this program should email restaurants@sba.gov. A full list of official point-of-sale service providers will be continually updated and can be found at sba.gov/restaurants.
