7 Sonoma County Restaurants Awarded $5K Grants

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Seven restaurants in Sonoma County will receive a financial boost from the California Restaurant Foundation and The PG&E Corporation Foundation through resilience grants to invest in equipment upgrades, workforce training and more — all intended to help increase their longevity and business success.

The PG&E Foundation’s charitable contribution of $900,000 this year will fund $5,000 grants for 154 hometown restaurants in 30 counties within Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s service area. Donated funds will also be used as operating support for the California Restaurant Foundation, which administers the grant program. The money for these grants comes from PG&E shareholders, not customers.

"Our North Coast restaurants—many of them owned by local families who live in our communities—are the places where we love to gather, celebrate and make memories," said Dave Cany, vice president of PG&E's North Coast region. "These small businesses also help drive our local economies. We’re grateful for our partnership with the California Restaurant Foundation that allows PG&E to support local restaurants and ensure their ongoing success."

Among the grant recipients are seven restaurants in Sonoma County:

• Baked on the River, Guerneville
• Baker & Cook, Sonoma
• Don Panchos Mexican Food, Petaluma
• Petaluma Lunch Box, Sebastopol
• Sweet Pea Bake Shop, Sonoma
• Ulia’s Delicatessen, Santa Rosa
• Viva Mexicana, Sebastopol

The California Restaurant Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1981 that invests in and empowers California restaurants and their workforce, awarded 278 independent restaurants with $5,000 grants as part of its fourth consecutive Restaurants Care® Resilience Fund. The grants were made possible by donations from SoCalGas, The PG&E Corporation Foundation and San Diego Gas and Electric, which have contributed to the fund since 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Grants were made available to California resident restaurant owners with fewer than five locations and less than $3 million in revenue, and prioritized minority- and women-owned businesses.

For the first time this year, the grants were open to commercial caterers based on appeals for support for catering companies because they are also part of the local food scene.

In addition to 154 restaurants awarded grants in PG&E's territory, 90 grants were awarded in SoCalGas’ region and 34 in San Diego Gas and Electric’s territory. Eighty-eight percent are single-unit establishments, with an average of 10 years in business. Notably, 76 percent of the grant recipients identify as female, and 73 percent identify as people of color.

"Receiving this grant is a great honor and feels like recognition of our efforts at Whitey's Jolly Kone to continue to grow and serve our community,” said Jennifer Havson, co-owner of Whitey’s Jolly Kone in Sacramento. “As third-generation owner-operators, we aim to revitalize the foundation that our grandfather and parents established for us, by expanding a family-friendly space to meet the needs of the current and ever-growing community throughout Sacramento. This grant will allow us to make technological upgrades to our building which was built in the early 1960s."

See the complete list of 2024 Restaurants Care® Resilience Fund grant recipients.