Restaurants Benefit From Revitalization Money In Oak Creek

Oak Creek WI

14 July, 2021

4:24 PM

Description

OAK CREEK, WI —Restaurants in Oak Creek were among the more than 2,095 in Wisconsin who received money from the Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was passed by Congress last year as part of a sweeping coronavirus relief package. A total of $380 million in funding was given to Wisconsin restaurants. But the 2,095 Wisconsin businesses that received funding under the program were just 35 percent of the 5,871 that applied to the program, which SBA is shutting down Wednesday. In Oak Creek, grants were given to: KMDG LLC - $624,128 EAK Inc - $173,977Belair Cantina Oak Creek Inc - $128,756Pineapple Cafe LLC - $90,521PANDA GOURMET LLC - $46,444LOTUS RESTAURANT LLC - $27,715 But restaurants across the country are facing an uncertain future after the U.S. Small Business Administration said last month it was shutting down the Restaurant Revitalization Fund passed by Congress as part of the coronavirus relief package. "For a hundred thousand restaurants, the R.R.F. has made their future clear and stable, but for the more than 200,000 operators shut out of funding, receiving this letter today only heightens their fear and anger," Sean Kennedy, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, told The New York Times. "We need Congress to act." In an email to applicants last month, the SBA said the program will be "disabled" July 14. At that time, it will stop accepting applications. Nationally, the program has handed out grants to 105,000 restaurants, but another 265,000 applicants are still waiting. A bill to replenish the fund has been introduced in Congress, but it has not moved forward. Despite restaurant industry lobbying for Congress to replenish the fund, lawmakers have been more focused on reaching a compromise on the Biden administration's infrastructure improvement bill.