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AUSTIN, TX – Austin restaurants were among more than 6,406 in Texas to receive funding from the Small Business Administration Restaurant Revitalization Fund, approved by Congress last year as part of a comprehensive coronavirus relief package.
A total of $ 1.6 billion was donated to Texas restaurants. But the 6,406 Texas companies that received grants under the program were just 34.7 percent of the 18,461 companies that applied for the program, which SBA closes on Wednesday.
In Austin, 556 grants were given to local restaurants. Of the 556, the five companies with the most funding received this:
- Texas Restaurant Group Inc.- $ 8,482,166.00
- BBQ 512 LLC – $ 4,058,430.50
- Tacodeli Holdings Inc. – $ 3,816,748.00
- POK-E-JO’S SMOKEHOUSE INC – $ 3,650,193.00
- Lamberts Downtown Barbecue LTD – $ 3,121,377.50
On the Austin Metro, 34 restaurants in Round Rock, 14 in Pflugerville, 21 in Cedar Park, and three in Leander have received funding from the Revitalization Fund.
However, restaurants across the country face an uncertain future after the U.S. Small Business Administration announced last month it would close the restaurant revitalization fund decided by Congress as part of the coronavirus bailout.
“For one hundred thousand restaurants, the RRF has made their futures clear and stable, but for the 200,000+ operators who are excluded from funding, receiving this letter today only increases their fear and anger,” said Sean Kennedy, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association said the New York Times. “We need Congress to act.”
In an email to applicants last month, the SBA announced that the program will be “deactivated” on July 14th. At this point in time no more applications will be accepted. Nationally, the program has funded 105,000 restaurants, but another 265,000 applicants are still waiting. A bill to replenish the fund was tabled in Congress, but not promoted.
Despite the restaurant industry lobbying for Congress to replenish the fund, lawmakers have been more focused on reaching a compromise on the Biden Government Infrastructure Improvement Act.
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