DoorDash is offering $10,000 grants to small restaurants impacted by Hurricane Ian, the company wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive. The Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund, which launched last year through a partnership with Hello Alice, is available to restaurants impacted by state- or federally-declared natural disasters.
Grants can be used to cover various operating expenses, including rent or mortgage payments, food and beverage inventory, utilities and supplies and materials.
“Recovery will be a long road for many businesses and communities,” Sueli Shaw, head of social impact at DoorDash, said in the emailed statement.
For every day the average small business is closed, it can lose $3,000, and 40% of small businesses don’t reopen after a disaster. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 10% of restaurants permanently closed.
Restaurants can apply for these grants through Dec. 30 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
DoorDash is also supporting 50,000 local residents with relief credits, and has donated supplies from local DashMarts to help impacted communities.
