Solved: Re: Live Q&A: Restaurant Revitalization Fund for S... - Page 28

Ani_ · ‎04-22-2021

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.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

Ani_ · ‎04-30-2021

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:

When can you apply:
- Applications start on Monday 5/3 at 12:00 p.m EST / 9:00 a.m. PST.
- The SBA has a registration window open on Friday 4/30, but if you plan to apply through Square you do not need to register with the SBA.

Who can apply through Square:
- To determine if you are an eligible business type, you’ll need to visit SBA’s website (sba.gov/restaurants).
- If you processed with Square in 2019 and 2020 (Table 1 or 2 in the RRF application), you can apply through Square’s dashboard or the SBA. If you used multiple POS providers during that period or had supplemental income e.g. from online ordering apps, you can still apply with Square. You’ll be able to add supplementary income information — but the SBA may require you to provide additional documentation before you e-sign your application.
- If you began processing with Square in 2020 or 2021 (Table 3 in the RRF application), then you will need to apply through the SBA. You can get useful information from your Square account to include in your application — to learn how, please take a look at our Support Center.

Why you should or should not apply with Square:
- If you apply through Square can save time completing and submitting your application with pre filled data from your Square account.
- Submitting through Square can help you get your application in front of the SBA quickly — before the RRF funds run out.
- Square will enable you to add supplemental revenue information in your application for either Table 1 or Table 2 applicant. However, if you are a Table 3 applicant, you will need to apply via SBA because Square will not let you upload supporting documentation for eligible expenses.

How can you apply with Square:
- If you are eligible to apply through Square, you’ll need to log in to your dashboard when the application window opens, using the owner’s login. From there, you’ll find a specific RRF module from where you can start your application.
- Square will have pre-filled your application with the information we know about your business. That said, there is information we do not have access to. To complete your application as fast as possible we recommend to have the following information handy:
  - The date (day, month, and year) you began operations.
  - How many months you operate in every location. This is especially important if you operate a seasonal business.
  - Any additional income you may have earned in 2019 and 2020 that was not processed through Square. Ideally you are tracking this income by location. If this information is not available feel free to distribute this across locations ensuring the total revenue by location (through Square and other sources)stays under $5M.
  - Your PPP loan information — especially if you did not process these loans with Square.
- After submitting your award application through your Square Dashboard, you’ll need to eSign your application. Here’s how it works:
  - Open an email from Square with the title “Your RRF award application is not yet complete.” Follow the link in the email to visit the SBA portal.
  - If you see a page with the title “Third Party Signup,” you are in the right spot. Enter the text you see in the grey pixelated image in the appropriate field and click Complete Sign Up.
  - You’ll then receive an email from SBA with the title “SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund - Password Reset E-mail.” Click the link included in the email to reset your password.
  - Once you complete your password reset, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Sign and Submit Application to sign your application via DocuSign.
  - The SBA may also require additional documentation for your application if you indicated revenue outside of Square. From the SBA portal, you will be able to upload supporting documentation to the Additional Info Needed section if required by the SBA.

How can you get help if you have more questions?
- We will try to answer as many additional questions as possible here through the weekend.
- Call the SBA call center hotline (844-279-8898): Applicants can call this number for multilingual application or program support.

Reach out to your SBA District Office: Applicants can reach out to their local District Office for tailored regional SBA support.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

View Solution >

xgolftc · ‎04-29-2021

Is there any disadvantage to registering tomorrow and trying to use Square on Monday? Not seeing a lot of answers here yet only more questions and I am quite concerned about the possibility that we will not get in like previous grants and assistance.

Ani_ · ‎05-02-2021

No there is no disadvantage @xgolftc.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

aacole · ‎04-29-2021

Do you recommend preregistering on the Square site as well on Friday, Apr 30? I heard it opens at 10:00EDT.

ChukE · ‎04-29-2021

SBA's RRF registration opens tomorrow 04/30, application opens Monday 05/03.

Will square also have a registration step tomorrow?

pk4 · ‎04-29-2021

From the SBA website: You can apply through SBA-recognized Point of Sale (POS) vendors or directly via SBA in a forthcoming online application portal: https://restaurants.sba.gov. Participating POS providers include Square, Toast, Clover, NCR Corporation (Aloha). If you are working with Square or Toast, you do not need to register beforehand on the https://restaurants.sba.gov application portal.

Aokuzog · ‎04-29-2021

We acquired a new business as an additional location in March 2020. Can we add the previous owners sales for that location for gross receipts 2019, so that the variance in gross receipts are an accurate reflection of the new business.

NmontaSBA · ‎05-02-2021

@Aokuzog

If you do not have the financial records from the previous owner (including payroll records), you may apply using Application Table 3.

If you have the financial records from the previous owner (including payroll records) you should apply using the appropriate Table that corresponds to the length of time the business has been open.

Regardless of which Table you use in the application, you must include all Paycheck Protection Program loans received by the business in 2020 and/or 2021, regardless of ownership, in line 3 on Table 1, 2, or 3 of your funding calculation.

Nicola
SBA Guest Speaker
sba.gov/restaurants

UrbnPHX · ‎04-29-2021

Is there a template for documenting the 33% for those that are required to do so?

NmontaSBA · ‎05-02-2021

@UrbnPHX Examples of documentation include TTB forms, state or local sales tax filings, or internal inventory management reports or financial statements.

Nicola
SBA Guest Speaker
sba.gov/restaurants

tinaford1 · ‎04-29-2021

Ani, We opened our first location in April 2019 and our second location June 2020. Can we use form 2 for location 1 and form 3 for location 2 and use the aggregate of the two as the funding amount?

Ani_ · ‎05-02-2021

Hey @tinaford1 - Yes, you would use Table 4 to aggregate the two if under the same EIN.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

mimiandsimoninc · ‎04-29-2021

SBA begin to create user ID and password for RRF application tomorrow 9:00am.

If I want to apply through the Square dashboard, do I need to create ID and password somewhere?

Ani_ · ‎05-02-2021

No you do not need to, @mimiandsimoninc.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

ChukE · ‎04-29-2021

RRF application requires reporting of all sales. In 2020, some of our sales came through Doordash etc.

How will the total sales reporting be handled in Square's application site? Will sales through Square be populated automatically?

Ani_ · ‎05-02-2021

Hi @ChukE, You will be able to add supplemental income information through Square’s application. However after you submit your application, the SBA may require some documentation that verifies this income so have that readily available.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

PureDC · ‎04-29-2021

We signed our lease in Q4 2019, were on hold for construction in 2020 due to COVID until summer, we officially opened our doors in April 2021 with square POS, where should we apply, through square or directly through SBA? Thanks.

PureDC · ‎04-29-2021

Also, since we opened 4.1.2021, do we include gross sales in April or are we not to include gross sales beyond March 11, 2021. Please advise.

NmontaSBA · ‎05-02-2021

@PureDC You do not include sales beyond 3/11/21.

Nicola
SBA Guest Speaker
sba.gov/restaurants

Ani_ · ‎05-02-2021

Hi @PureDC, We recommend to apply through the SBA as you will have a lot of eligible expenses that you won’t be able to submit through Square.

Ani
Gestora de la Comunidad de Vendedores / Seller Community Manager, Square

QCGBill · ‎04-29-2021

Has the SBA begun to provide answers to these questions? How can we see?

ThirdPlaceJen · ‎04-29-2021

Yes, I am watching pop ups from with Ani or an SBA

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

When can you apply:

Who can apply through Square:

Why you should or should not apply with Square:

How can you apply with Square:

How can you get help if you have more questions?