Lamorinda Restaurants Awarded $5K Resilience Grants

LAMORINDA, CA — Christmas came early for some hardworking local restaurant owners in Lamorinda and Contra Costa County.

La Finestra Ristorante in Moraga and Kibi's Cafe in Walnut Creek and Orinda were among six restaurants in Contra Costa County, 77 in Northern California and 182 statewide to receive $5,000 grants as part of California Restaurant Foundation's Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, it was announced Monday.

The grant program began in response to the pandemic in 2021 to help strengthen businesses and enable them to retain employees. It has since evolved into a permanent fund to build resilience within the Golden State's restaurant community, a spokesperson for the fund said.

All grant winners are given means to purchase kitchen equipment, technical upgrades, employee training and bonuses, and unforeseen hardships. This second cycle of grants was made possible by donations from SoCalGas, The PG&E Corporation Foundation and San Diego Gas and Electric, all of which have contributed to the fund since it first began.

Here are the Contra Costa County restaurants awarded grants in this latest round:

• La Finestra Ristorante, Moraga Shopping Center, 1419 Moraga Way, Moraga
• Kibi's Cafe, 1981 N. Broadway, Walnut Creek & 2 Theatre Square, Orinda
• Vic's, 1500 Pacheco Blvd., Martinez
• Attraversiamo, 2485 Sand Creek Road, Brentwood
• Cafe Nine, Bank of the West Plaza, 11100 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito
• Finas Pizza, 1890 23rd St., San Pablo

Since 2021, the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund has awarded $5.94 million in grants to 1,325 independent restaurants throughout California. The restaurants include burger joints, taquerias, bakeries, and more at the heart of every community. Many of these restaurants represent family legacies and life-long dreams.

Chef Jeff Assadi is the owner of La Finestra Ristorante, an Italian restaurant in Moraga. He worked for over a decade with different chefs in different restaurants in the Bay Area before he opened his first restaurant in 2003 in Lafayette. In 2018, he established La Finestra in Moraga. Before working as a chef, Assadi attended the University of Colorado and earned a bachelor's degree in civil and structural engineering. Fortunately for Lamorinda residents, Assadi's passion and love for food made him pursue the hospitality business and not engineering.

Kibi's Cafe, which has locations at 2 Theatre Square in Orinda and 1981 N. Broadway in Walnut Creek, was founded in 2018 by Hoang, a single mother from Vietnam. In raising her children and preparing daily meals in America, her love and passion for traditional Vietnamese food culture, which includes healthy, well-balanced and fresh ingredients, grew deeper ... as did her dream to share it with the Bay Area community. She took the nicknames of her daughter, Ki, and son, Bi, to form the name of her business. Staying true to her vision, the food at KiBi's Café, from aioli to pickles, dipping sauces and meats, is proudly and exclusively homemade.

Here are a few statistics about the restaurant owners who applied for the grant. Most have been in business for around 10 years, and 92 percent are single-unit restaurants. Of the applicants, 66 percent of the restaurants are owned by women, and 77 percent are owned by people of color.

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On average, each restaurant employs 11 people — over 10,000 employees who will benefit from the resilience fund grant statewide. A new grant of up to $2,500 is directly earmarked for cooks, servers, dishwashers, and other workers when they face an unforeseen hardship.

Alycia Harshfield, executive director of the California Restaurant Foundation, discussed the most recent grant awards.

"We are thrilled to close out our biggest Resilience Fund year yet by awarding 182 restaurant owners with these business-supporting grants, especially as they enter the holiday season and new year," Harshfield said. "We are confident that our new cohort of deserving restaurant owners will use their grants to strengthen their business resiliency and further cultivate a vibrant food scene across California. SoCalGas, The PG&E Corporation Foundation, and SDG&E have been such wonderful partners to us, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to support locally owned restaurants up and down the state."

The organization actively seeks more supporters, and donations of all sizes are accepted and celebrated. Visit www.restaurantscare.org/resilience for more information.

See the complete list of Fall 2023 grantees here.