Today, Square announced its participation as a technology partner in the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), a $28.6 billion grant program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The RRF will provide free monetary awards to restaurants and other food and beverage businesses that sustained financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
How does the application process work?
The award application program is owned by the SBA, and they are finalizing the process. Square knows how important these funds are to you and your business, so they are working as quickly as possible to get the application ready!
Unlike the PPP program, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund are awards and are not loans. They are not serviced as loans and have no forgiveness component. There are no intermediary banks involved. Awards are determined by and allocated by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and not Square.
If you qualify for a Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant, you’ll have the option to apply soon on Square Dashboard or through the SBA’s secure website. To help support applicants throughout the process, the SBA will offer phone and district office support.
- Call center hotline (844-279-8898): Applicants can call this number for multi-lingual application or program support.
- SBA District Offices: Applicants can reach out to their local District Office for tailored regional SBA support.
For more information about eligibility or to start your application, please visit the SBA Portal. You can also find more information about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund on the Support Center.
