Live Q&A: Restaurant Revitalization Fund for Square Food and Beverage Sellers

[Ani_]

Hi Seller Community!

I'm excited to announce the Small Business Administration has developed a partnership with Square to distribute the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) relief to the food and drink industry. The Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) is part of the U.S. Government’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This plan includes a $28.6B fund for awards to eligible food and beverage business owners, administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). 

On Thursday, April 29th at 1:30-2:30 PM PST /4:30 PM-5:30 EST, we'll host a Live Q&A with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to answer any of your questions about the application process. Please make sure to ask any questions directly on this thread below. Keep in mind, the SBA will only be addressing questions related to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), not PPP.  

How does the application process work?

We expect to start enabling applications for the Restaurants Revitalization Fund (RRF) on Monday, May 3rd at 12:00 PM EST. The award application program is owned by the SBA, and they are finalizing the process. We know how important these funds are to you and your business, so we 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 Monday, May 3rd 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. Let us know if you have any questions for the SBA below!

Note: The SBA has announced that they will officially stop accepting applications for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) on Monday, May 24, at 8 p.m. ET.

[NmontaSBA]

Hi @EmsIceCream, The form 4506-T will be integrated into the application process, there is no need to create and upload separately.

[chanty]

I started Square mid February of 2019.  How do I include my gross receipts for the first month and a half in the RRF fund if I go through Square?

[chanty]

I started Square mid February of 2019. How do I include my gross receipts for the first month and a half in the RRF fund if I go through Square?

[Ani_]

Hi @chanty! Great question - if you began processing with Square in 2019, but used another processor prior to that, then you will be able to submit your application through Square and will need to upload supporting documentation from your previous processor on the SBA portal when you eSign.

[Franz]

Live Q&A today, where? Just on this thread?

[Ani_]

@Franz Yep! We'll be responding to all questions today directly on this thread from 1:30-2:30 PM PST /4:30 PM-5:30 EST.

[chiyachai]

If we do this via Square, how will our delivery orders be included?  Currently we enter delivery orders in Square to print kitchen tickets but this is subtracted from our net sales amount (to reconcile payments) as discounts. Will we be reporting our net sales amount or the gross sales amount? 

[Ani_]

@chiyachai Square is using gross sales, not net sales in the grant calculation.

[cynthiagerdes]

Hello!

1. Will the application be IDENTICAL to the one on the SBA site?

2. Does Square get "involved" in reporting data? Asking because not all of our sales are run thru Square. We also have website sales as well as wedding/event sales. 

3. What is the link to today's Square/SBA webinar and do we have to preregister?

4. Our restaurant is an ESOP, owned by 91 Employee Owners. Most are women or minorities, but if by chance SBA decides we don't qualify for "early consideration," we will "lose our place" in the line of restaurants that don't qualify for early consideration? (ie., will our application then be sent "to the end of the line"?

Thank you!

[NmontaSBA]

Hi @cynthiagerdes, 4.) To qualify for the priority period, Applicants must certify that they are a small business concern at least 51 percent owned by one or more individuals who are women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged and if the management and daily business operations of the applicant are controlled by one or more women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged individual.You may apply at any time, but for the first 21 days the program is open, SBA will only fund applications where the Applicant has self-certified that it is an eligible member of the priority group. If you apply during the priority period and you are not an eligible member of the priority group, SBA will hold your application and process it after the priority period is over. 

[Ani_]

Hey @cynthiagerdes,

1. The calculations in Square and the SBA application are the same. However, the Square application is streamlined and prefilled with information that is already in your Square account.

2. Square will prefill existing data that we have, and provide the option to enter in outside revenue for 2019 and 2020, which you will need to upload documentation in SBA to verify.

[Franz]

JUST CALLED THE SBA BECAUSE THE BANK CAN'T PROVIDE ME WITH THE SBA LOAN NUMBER FOR MY SECOND PPP, WHICH IS REQUIRED ON THE RRF APPLICATION. SBA SAYS THE PPP LOAN NUMBER WILL AUTOFILL WHEN THE EIN IS ENTERED, BUT THAT'S ON THE SBA WEBSITE. WILL SBA PPP LOAN NUMBERS AUTOFILL ON THE SQUARE APP FOR RRF APPLICATIONS? IF NOT, DO I NEED TO REGISTER ON FRIDAY AT SBA SO I CAN USE THE SBA APPLICATION WEBSITE ON MONDAY?

[Yael1]

From what I've read here, first you will be on the Square site, and then you are migrated to the SBA site

[Ani_]

Hi @Franz, If your PPP loan was through Square Capital then the loan number will prefill. Otherwise it will need to be entered manually. If you choose to apply through the SBA then you will need to register with the SBA.

[Faithful]

Hello Square Community,

Just wondering what the time frame parameters are.  We started with Square back in November 2020, does this qualify us?   We officially started our business 10/19 but was going at it part time as we did not have the resources to start in official capacity.

[Ani_]

Hi @Faithful, Unfortunately if you began processing with Square in 2020, we will not be able to support your business and recommend you register with and apply through the SBA.

[BTMgourmet]

I had a question regarding how Square will calculate our gross receipts to use for this application. I know that through my POS, Square captures my credit card sales, but how can I show my sales through cash, check, and other third party providers like ubereats and doordash? Also, I have two locations I track separately through Square.

I just want to ensure that my total gross receipts are being captured when applying through Square as opposed through the SBA website where I use my business tax forms to qualify my receipts. Can you (Square) or SBA clarify this for me?

[Ani_]

Hi @BTMgourmet! If you both locations are under a single Square account, then you will be able to select which location you would like to include, or include all locations. In addition to the gross sales that we are prefilling, the Square form will provide the option for you to enter in additional revenue outside of Square. You will need to provide supplemental documentation for this through the SBA portal.

[BlackDog1]

For multiple locations, I have a question regarding the sales figures to use.  If you housed two locations under one EIN and tax return, but sold one location pre-pandemic (end of 2019), should the sold location's sales be excluded when determining 2020 pandemic revenue loss? 

[NmontaSBA]

Hi @BlackDog1, The sold location’s sales should not be included in 2019 nor 2020 gross receipts numbers.

[Gigis1]

I use square for my POS, but I also have income from Door Dash and other delivery service.  If I apply thru Square, will I be able to put all of my other revenue on my application or just what Square currently has?