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.
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.
On Thursday 5/29, we hosted a Q&A with the US Small Business Administration about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
In the Q&A, the SBA and Square answered questions about the application process — from general eligibility requirements to more specific information that applied to individual sellers.
Here’s some important information that applies to most sellers:
Reach out to your SBA District Office: Applicants can reach out to their local District Office for tailored regional SBA support.
My business only uses Square for online sales, and we use another platform (Touch Bistro) for our regular POS. Can I still use the square platform to submit my application?
Can you also provide some clarity on "women owned" vs "women controlled" on who is eligible to apply on May 1?
Thank you!
@Bloomcafe If you have processed with Square in 2019, you are going to be able to apply through Square. You can include supplementary income information from your regular POS in your application but the SBA may require additional documentation before you can e-sign it, so we recommend having this information available in case you need it.
Hi @Ani_ Can you tell us how this "Live Q&A" is working? Are we supposed to just see answers to 282 questions appear under each answer? Should we be jumping page to page to see what answer is being worked on? Is there an indicator that tells us which question is being answered?
I think you will get a direct email with the answer to your individual questions. What happens later to allow the community to see answers to questions, I am not sure of.
@Ani_ Is this true? There are questions I've wanted to know but haven't asked, because they were already asked by other folks, and I was hoping to just read their answers here or hear about them during a "Live Q&A".
How do we see the SBA/Square answers on this thread?
Hey @OntheBeach, we're addressing the questions now. Due to the high number of posts, it may take a few days before we've reached everyone. Sorry for the delay — keep watch for email notifications as we publish answers to this thread.
is the 4506-T used for your personal SS Authorization or for the EIN of the business?
@JimG1026 It's the EIN of the business.
Questions:
1) where in the Square Dashboard will the online application link be located?
2) The benefit of using the Square Portal is that the our 2019 and 2020 gross receipts will be provided by Square POS, or will we be entering the gross receipt numbers and Square will be validating the numbers?
3) Should we also register with the SBA site tomorrow, as a backup, in case there are issues on Monday logging into the Square POS site?
1. If you are eligible to apply with Square, there will be a specific module on the page you immediately see after you login on your dashboard.
2. Square will pre-fill the information we have on your account. You will be able to make changes as needed and add any supplementary income not captured in your Square account.
3. You do not need to but you have the option to do so.
How do I find out if I'm eligible to apply through square? Where via square could I apply for RRF (will it be a separate link or portal, etc)?
Hey @CoffeeCo2005, If you have processed with Square in 2019, you will be able to apply through Square. If that is the case you will see a link on your dashboard.
Can someone please give me the url for the live Q&A?
i can find it either
Same question re: Square as POS with Delivery service income not in Square.
where can I join the live Q/A
There is no live or webinar. Questions will be answered here in this format beginning 4:30 pm EDT.
Is there a benefit to registering as soon as the window opens tomorrow? Is there a benefit to going through square vs. SBA direct?
Hey @BCN16 - If you decide to apply through Square you did not need to register with the SBA on Friday 4/30. Square will pre-fill your application with the information we have on your Square account saving you time and effort - which could be useful as we expect RRF funds to be allocated very fast. However keep in mind that if you apply with Square you will not be able to add supplementary information that is not in your Square account (e.g. some eligible expenses) so that may decrease the size of your potential award.
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