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.

[Bnatural]

How to justify all costs of eligible expense for the restaurant open on January 2020, and all the work done on 2019?

[Ani_]

@Bnatural It seems your business opened in 2020. If this is the case you will not be able to apply through Square. We recommend visiting the SBA website (sba.gov/restaurants) that includes information on documentation you will need to verify eligible expenses. If you processed with Square in 2020, you can also download your sales income from our reports section and submit in your application. You can find more information here.

[BJC]

Will we be able to submit Square sales summary reports directly into the portal?  Or do we have to generate the reports and then save them somewhere in our documents to add them to the application?

[Ani_]

Hi @BJC, If we have enough information in your Square account to enable you to submit your RRF application from the Square dashboard, we will pre-fill your sales information in your application. If we don’t have enough information in your account, you will need to submit your application directly via the SBA. In this case you can download relevant information from your Square account - check our help center for information on how to do so. 

[HanaHarvest]

 If a restaurant closed for part of 2019 are they still eligible?

[Ani_]

Yes! @HanaHarvest 

[KUSAKABE]

Which reports do I need for RRF and where can I download?

We use multiple POS companies and Square is one of them.  Can I apply through Square for other POS reports or do I have to apply separately on SBA website for other reports?

[Ani_]

Hi @KUSAKABE, The choice is up to you. You will be able to add supplementary income from other sources when you apply through Square. However the SBA may require verifying documentation for this additional income after you submit your application. 

[HanaHarvest]

If a restaurant was closed for part of 2019 due to COVID, do we still just calculate eligible grant amount by subtracting 2019 gross from 2020 gross?

[Ani_]

Yep, @HanaHarvest!

[mco407]

do 2020 business taxes need to be filed

[ChukE]

No

[Ani_]

@mco407  @ChukE is correct here!

[mco407]

i do not qualify for 1099k for 2020

[FAHBKLN]

We use Square for credit card processing which is the bulk (90%+) of of our sales but also use an old school register for the few cash sales we have that our accountant reports sales for. Can we upload our 1065's to report our gross receipts (which has all our income) or will applying through Square force us to use just the POS reports?

[Ani_]

Hi @FAHBKLN, We will enable you to add supplemental sales information to your application. However the SBA may require you to add some valiating documentation as they review your application.

[patika]

What will the official report from Square be that SBA requests?  Seems like the 1099-K will not show accurate gross revenue.  Will this report be accessible in the reports section of the dashboard?

[Ani_]

Hey @patika, - you will be able to apply directly through Square! SBA encourages applicants who can apply through Square to do so. This is an amazing partnership we have worked together on to make sure you as an Applicant have all the data and documentation you need, in a platform you are already comfortable with. 

For those who do end up applying through the SBA portal, you are able to access POS reports, including your 1099k, from your Square dashboard. To access your 1099k, navigate to Account & Settings, Business, and Tax Forms.

[sheridandiner]

It also states that those of us that were unable to open in 2020 but now have been ablle to will be able to apply, I assume that the link will appear for us? we have spent a ton of money on outdoor seating 

[Ani_]

Hi @sheridandiner, if you began using Square in 2019 and are an eligible business, then you will see a module on Dashboard to begin your application. If you began processing in 2020 or 2021, you will not be able to apply through Square and we recommend you use the SBA portal.

[808Sweetshack]

I migrated to Square in late 2020 from Shopify. Shold I assume I will need to apply via the SBA website because SHopify has all of my 2019 sales info?