Dive Brief:

• The California Restaurant Foundation awarded 184 grants to independent restaurants, each of which received $5,000, in its third annual disbursement from its Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, for a total of $920,000, the foundation said in an email to Restaurant Dive.
• The grant program is backed by SoCal Gas, San Diego Gas and Electric and the Pacific Gas and Electric Foundation, which collectively pledged more than $2.1 million to support the fund.
• Restaurants can use their grants for operational upgrades, including equipment and technology or repairs, as well as employee retention efforts. The foundation said applications for the next funding round would open in October.

Dive Insight:

According to the CRF Resilience Fund’s website, the group has given grants to 972 restaurants since 2021. In the press release, the foundation said this year’s round was the largest in terms of overall funding, applicant numbers and grant size. 

To qualify for the grants, restaurateurs needed to operate five or fewer units and have less than $3 million in revenue. The 2023 applicant group was 25% larger than the previous year’s, indicating ongoing hardship for California restaurant operators, according to the press release.

CRF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of restaurants that applied, or the criteria by which those selected were evaluated.

Most of the restaurants plan to reinvest in operational or equipment changes, the foundation said in a statement. “More than 80 percent plan to use the $5,000 grants to improve the business itself, with items such as technology and equipment upgrades,” the foundation said. “Roughly 20 percent will invest the funds back into their people via retention bonuses and training.”

CRF also touted the diversity of recipients: 70% of restaurant owners awarded grants are women and 78% are people of color, the organization said.

The grants may help independents bridge gaps or weather economic headwinds. In April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food-away-from-home prices were 8.6% above the year-ago level, and increased 0.4% month over month The food-at-home prices were up 7.1% against the same time last year and fell 0.2% in April.

With restaurant price increases outstripping grocery inflation, consumer traffic at restaurants fell 3.5% in April, according to BlackBox Intelligence, with full service restaurants in the western parts of the U.S. seeing the worst sales and traffic impacts. According to Alignable, 41% of California small businesses had trouble paying rent in May, up 9% compared to April.

In California, chain restaurants, the International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association managed to block the state’s AB 257 from taking effect. Opponents and supporters of that state law, which would have established a board to govern wages and standards at national QSR chains in California, say that law might have led to increased labor costs for independents.