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On April 7, 2022, the House passed H.R. RRF Taxability, RRF Update and ERC taxability While SBA prevented over 30,000 suspicious applications from receiving awards, GAO identified systemic control weaknesses. Restaurant Revitalization Fund Award Disbursements, May 3July 1, 2021. Consider the House-passed, $55 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act, which could be the No Faction Left Behind Act.. SBA stopped accepting applications in July 2021 with the program oversubscribed and almost all its funds disbursed. The industry still has not recreated 565,000 jobs lost at that time, which is the largest current employment deficit caused by the pandemic among all U.S. industries. In January 2023, SBA stated that it would offer to participate in a government-wide dialogue to address systemic weaknesses related to IRS and territories' tax validation systems. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 2, 2022 / The Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) has promising news that funds may be added, however, are not guaranteed just yet. (Recommendation 6), The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should develop and implement a plan to respond to potentially fraudulent and ineligible RRF awards in a prompt and consistent manner. That is a serious consideration. Is the grant money taxable and are the expenses deductible? Many hoped that would mean more money into the RRF, which wasnt able to distribute the vast majority of monies requested by restaurants due to lawsuits over a rule intended to help that aid reach minority-owned businesses first. Lawmakers approved the measure in a 223-203 vote, with only about a handful of Republicans backing it. What to do? In January 2023, SBA stated that it would conduct a review of RRF awards and use the results to inform the effectiveness of pre-award controls. Updates to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund - ARF Financial On Nov. 23, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a statement about the current state of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RFF), which helped more than 100,000 restaurants and food and beverage business owners during the pandemic. Subscribe to Restaurant Dive for top news, trends & analysis, The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines, Permission granted by Starbucks Workers United, The Bornk Tuna Sandwich is Back at Erbert & Gerbert's, Olo and Flybuy Strategic Partnership Launches New Premium, Integrated Olo Expo and Order Fire , Interface Announces Technology Acceleration Program for Franchise Brands & Franchisees, CBS NorthStar and Ovation Join Forces to Boost Restaurant Brands' Revenue, By signing up to receive our newsletter, you agree to our, Webinar "This should be the driving factor in bipartisan support for replenishing the RRF. Ninety-six percent of RRFrecipients said the grant made it more likely that their business would survive. The median award was about $126,000. Number of Restaurant Revitalization Fund Applications by Eligibility and Funding Status. This recommendation will remain open until SBA provides evidence of using enforcement data (e.g., information on suspicious borrowers provided by the Department of Justice or SBA's Office of Inspector General) on suspected fraud in other SBA programs to identify potential fraud in RRF recipients. Restaurant Revitalization Fund And stop digging. Restaurant Revitalization Fund Distributes $83M in Remaining Funds The nation has never experienced as large and abrupt an intervention as the cumulative federal and state lockdowns of commercial activity imposed when covid-19 surged in 2020. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on gathering and other crowd control measures had a huge impact on restaurant owners. Lawmakers ask SBA for disbursement plan for $180M RRF leftovers In January 2023, SBA stated that recipients have until March 2023 to exhaust RRF funds. The 177,000 restaurants that applied but didn't receive RRF funding represent around 20% of the industry, according to the National Restaurant Association, suggesting another round of restaurant-specific federal grants could improve the industry's recovery. It should take place Monday or Tuesday . H.R. Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington. Among its objectives, this report examines recipient characteristics, SBA's internal controls and fraud risk management practices, and SBA's efforts to monitor recipients. When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type. Despite literal years of exhortations from everyone from Tom Colicchio to Elizabeth Warren for Congress to provide aid to restaurants, neither the Biden administration nor Congress has acted in a way to provide meaningful, comprehensive assistance. The age of the Silicon Valley moonshot is over. (Recommendation 2), The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should develop and implement policies and procedures for addressing RRF recipients who do not meet annual reporting requirements. CEO of Berryhill Baja Grill restaurants in Houston, Jeff Anon, decided to take matters into his own hands in regards to declaring his right to free speech. GAO makes seven recommendations to SBA, including to assess pre-award controls and address deficiencies, strengthen post-award reporting, take additional steps to identify fraudulent or ineligible awards, and develop and implement a plan to address potentially fraudulent award recipients in a timely manner. Together with 52 State Associations, we are a network of professional organizations dedicated to serving every restaurant through advocacy, education, and food safety. Among the 435 congressional districts, surely not one lacks businesses eligible for aid, especially from the Senate bill. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the main sponsor of the bill, and Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., said Thursday that more than 80 percent of restaurants that didn't receive grants have reported that they are on the verge of permanent closure, citing a survey from the Independent Restaurant Coalition. Published May 24, 2022 Thai Phi Le Senior Managing Editor GAO maintains that all of the recommendations are valid, as discussed in this report. The sector still has myriad challenges ahead, but a glimmer of hope as Congress is expected to vote on further aid on May 19a $48 billion bill that would fully fund the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in July, noting SBA was holding unobligated RRF funds and the Association was first to send a letter to SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman requesting that the unobligated money be released to unfunded applicants. The Small Business Administration confirmed it will distribute $180 million in unspent money allocated for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund as awards, the National Restaurant Association said in an email to Restaurant Dive. The National Restaurant Association has been requesting these funds be released, and Executive Vice President of Public Affairs Sean Kennedy released the following statement in response: "The SBA's action represents the final chapter of our nearly three-year effort to secure dedicated federal pandemic relief dollars for local restaurants. For more information, visitRestaurant.org and find us on Twitter@WeRRestaurants, Cision Distribution 888-776-0942 JUNE 2022: In 2022, many RRF updates are in the works. The SBA, which had $83 million in unobligated RFF money worked with the advice of the Department of Justice to begin distributing the remaining funds to 169 restaurant operators with pending RRF applications. According to the SBA, they received more than 278,000 applications by June 30th, 2021, seeking more than $72.2 billion in funding. We sponsor the industry's largest trade show (National Restaurant Association Show); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF's ProStart). Realizar Login. Lawmakers. With so many questions surrounding the RRF, we created this resource and guide to provide answers. As a result, the U.S. Congress introduced legislation called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) to help restaurants get back on their feet. National Restaurant Association Statement on the Release of $83 Million Apr 7, 2022. For more information about the SBA, visit sba.gov. This program provides emergency assistance for eligible restaurants, bars, and other qualifying businesses impacted by COVID-19. Outdoor diners at the Bit and Spur Saloon in Springdale, Utah, in summer 2020. Payroll costs claimed as ERTC eligible wages, Forgivable payroll expenses on the PPP forgiveness application, Nonpayroll expenses claimed on the PPP Forgiveness application. Use of Funds Validation is now available for Restaurant Revitalization Fund awardees. Recipients cannot claim wages paid with RRF grant money as wages for purposes of the ERTC or PPP forgiveness. A similar attempt to refill the RRF was left out of the omnibus spending bill earlier this year. Everything from labor to packaging to utilities have gotten more expensive, and that ongoing rise in the cost of doing business continues to have a disproportionate impact on small businesses like restaurants. Or 28,399 closures. Washington has succumbed to dangerous groupthink on China, Google releases civil rights review, caving to years of pressure. Its an AI bot. What are eligible expenses and restrictions that RRF grant recipients should know about? About the National Restaurant AssociationFounded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises nearly 1 million restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of 14.5 million employees. The RRF is actually part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which was established in March 2021. Forty-three Senate Republicans, objecting to the fact that only a smidgen of the Senate bills cost would be offset by economies elsewhere, on May 19 prevented there being 60 votes to proceed with it. A vague, anti-drag bill in Tennessee has bar and restaurant owners worried for their future, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Congress Wont Send Any More Financial Aid to Restaurants Despite Pleas From the Industry, The Weird (and Wired) Truth Behind Whats Really in Coca-Cola, Why Coca-Cola contracts with a chemical company to manufacture cocaine in New Jersey, there was some hope that more money was coming, just about a third of the grant requests that it received because the demand was so great, exhortations from everyone from Tom Colicchio to Elizabeth Warren for Congress to provide aid to restaurants, that ongoing rise in the cost of doing business, Liquid Deaths New Tea Tallboys Are Coming for AriZonas Neck, If You Took the Drag Away, Then Its Just Another Boring Bar, How to Make Misis Iconic Ricotta-Filled Occhi Pasta. Its abundantly clear that the Biden administration considers the pandemic to be basically over. This recommendation will remain open until SBA (1) assesses how the design of RRF pre-award controls may have adversely affected applicants from U.S. territories, and (2) documents steps to mitigate this issue for future programs. Restaurant Revitalization Fund Well, then, what about that will-o-the-wisp, fairness? National Restaurant Association asks Congress for aid amid omicron This recommendation will remain open until SBA (1) provides documentation of its review, and (2) addresses or mitigates any deficiencies identified. We noted in our report, however, that SBA's post-award review procedures for RRF state that flagged awards will be reviewed when the recipients certify that they have spent their entire award or after they submit their final use-of-funds report (not when fraud is initially suspected). But it flagged 4,000 award recipients for suspected fraud and isn't taking timely action to address them. The NRA wrote a letter to Congress on Monday urging policymakers to pass legislation that would refill the fund. the Senate didnt pass the proposed increase, Easy Tips To Understand How To Properly Read Your Balance Sheet, Restaurant Business & Startup Loans: Complete Guide, Business payroll costs, including health insurance, Payments on any business mortgage obligation (both principal and interest; note: this does not include any prepayment of principal on a mortgage obligation), Business rent payments (note: this does not include prepayment of rent), Business debt service (both principal and interest; note: this does not include any prepayment of principal or interest), Business utility payments, maintenance expenses, Business supplies (including protective equipment and cleaning materials), Covered supplier costs, same definition as under PPP Forgiveness nonpayroll expensesfood purchases, Legal expenses, marketing expenses, insurance expenses, business licenses, shipping fees, equipment (new hood or a new grill, new fryers, etc.). In 2020 and 2021, restaurants, bars, and other food service businesses experienced substantial revenue loss and unemployment resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. "We hear from restaurants and bars owners each day who applied for a grant and never received one. This is not an infusion of funds into the RRF currently; in. Congress can talk about refilling the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, but it can never be full enough to service all factions who can claim, with some plausibility, that they experienced unfairness not easily distinguished from that suffered by factions who benefited from the first $28 billion. Welp, its (almost) official: when Congress takes up the 2022 omnibus spending bill, there wont be any new money for restaurants that are still struggling after years of pandemic-related losses. This recommendation will remain open until SBA enhances its post-award reporting procedures to require recipients to report their operating status. (Recommendation 4), The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should develop and implement data analytics across RRF awards as a means to detect potentially fraudulent award recipients. This recommendation will remain open until SBA provides evidence of conducting data analytics across RRF awards to detect potentially fraudulent recipients. Washington, D.C. - The National Restaurant Association today sent a letter to Congressional leadership encouraging passage of Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) Replenishment if the program comes up for a vote this week. This will remain until they fully expend the grant funding or the covered period expires. And SBA has not proactively used data analytics or information from enforcement entities to identify potentially fraudulent award recipients. The bill also would provide $13 billion for a Hard Hit Industries Award Program for small There are steps the government can take to support restaurants in every community, and we will continue to press for solutions at the federal, state, and local level.". The bill would provide $42 billion to replenish the RRF. The freshest news from the food world every day. SBA agreed or partially agreed with two recommendations. In GovTrack.us, a database of bills in the U.S. Congress. This news doesnt exactly come as a surprise, but earlier this year, there was some hope that more money was coming. They are on the verge of closing permanently as a result.". 3807, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of 2021. The Restaurant Revitalization Fund covered period begins on February 15, 2020 and ends on March 11, 2023. Stay informed as we add new reports & testimonies. Taking additional steps to identify and address potentially fraudulent awards in a timely manner could help SBA recover funds. Priority is to be provided to previous RRF applicants that did not receive an award. "I think right now it's hard to as you saw, even with the $10 billion package of new money for Covid unless they can reprogram or repurpose it, it's going to be a hard sell," he said Thursday afternoon as he exited Capitol. But with Congress having adjourned for a two-week recess, the bill won't be considered anytime soon in the Senate. Restaurant Revitalization Fund What's the impact of the Senate's failure to pass RRF? In January 2023, SBA stated that it was weighing potential solutions, such as adding functionality in the RRF platform to allow recipients to report their operating status. Dont do that. LOOK What Happened When This Restaurant Posted a Politically Incorrect Sign. (Recommendation 7), Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight. For more information, please check out our Privacy Policy. www.arffinancial.com/updates-to-the-restaurant-revitalization-fund/, Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/103.0.0.0 Safari/537.36. U.S. Small Business Administration RRF Award Portal, Restaurant Revitalization Funding Program. "We must continue to look forward because the enormous challenges of the industry will continue beyond today. Restaurant Revitalization Fund Distributes $83M in Remaining Funds November 28, 2022 On Nov. 23, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released a statement about the current state of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RFF), which helped more than 100,000 restaurants and food and beverage business owners during the pandemic. Six weeks ago six weeks of economic recovery ago Britschgi noted that in general, there are more small businesses open today than existed before the pandemic. And almost all government-dictated restrictions on commerce have ended. Even the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, with its paltry $28.6 billion in initial funding, wasn't enough to meaningfully help most establishments. This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. This plan should include coordinating with the OIG. The Independent Restaurant Coalition, which has spent the last two years lobbying for small restaurants in the face of extreme economic uncertainty, issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the decision to abandon restaurants, calling it catastrophic for these establishments. Just over 100,000 businesses received funding (40 percent of eligible applicants). Congress is voting on a $42 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund As a restaurant owner, youve most definitely heard about the varying RRF updates throughout the last year, how they could possibly impact your establishment, and more. WASHINGTON The House passed a $55 billion bill Thursday that would provide assistance to restaurants and other small businesses that have struggled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Operators receiving funds should receive notification today and SBA will begin transmitting the grants next week. However, for expensesses incurred on February 15, 2020 or after, be careful not to use the following: So long as funds are utilized for eligible applications no later than March 11, 2023, there is no requirement for recipients to repay the funding. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is releasing $83 million in leftover Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) aid to restaurateurs who were denied assistance in 2021 because the program burned through most of its $28.6 billion in about three weeks. Restaurant owners plead for Congresss help after omicron surge. Stay up to date on the news from Silicon Valley, and how to take back control of your data and devices. This deadline had many restaurants wondering who is eligible, when to expect additional RRF updates to the legislation, if any additional RRF forgiveness has been granted, and which anti-fraud mechanisms were put in place to determine which claims are legitimate. It is not clear how, when, or to whom these RRF grants will be issued, so do not throw away any correspondence from the SBA because you may be one of the lucky stores to receive an extremely late RRF grant! The Small Business Administration (SBA) began accepting applications and awarding funds in May 2021. As a recap, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund was created to give restaurants and other hospitality-related businesses the financial assistance that they need to get through this world-wide pandemic.To ensure all types of restaurant owners receive funding, including smaller establishments and minority . Please enter a valid email and try again. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning), Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy, Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American, A New Normal Takes Hold; Restaurants Focused on Paths to Continued Growth in 2023, DIRECTV for BUSINESS and National Restaurant Association Team-Up to Enhance the Restaurant Experience and Advance Restaurant Workers. Access from your Country was disabled by the administrator. By the time it closed in July 2021, the RRF. LISTEN TO THE QUICK UPDATE PODCAST BELOW! Rescuing restaurants (again) ought to give Congress indigestion, Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates, Alex Murdaughs conviction rested on a fateful phone video. Writing for Reason, he noted six weeks ago that Open Table, the reservation app, shows that close to 95 percent of restaurants open in 2019 are back to accepting reservations. For instance, it prevented over 30,000 suspicious applications from receiving awards. Arriving as federal spending has driven inflation to a 40-year high, the Replenishment Act indicates disregard for this rule: When you are in a hole, quit digging. Press Releases | National Restaurant Association The House passed the Relief for Restaurants and other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 (H.R. It is axiomatic that the titles of congressional bills, like the titles of Marx Brothers movies (Duck Soup, Horse Feathers), are not scrupulously informative.