These Burlington Restaurants Got Restaurant Revitalization Money

BURLINGTON, MA — Twenty-nine Burlington restaurant operators were among the more than 2,500 in Massachusetts that received nearly $1 billion from the Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was passed by Congress last year as part of a sweeping coronavirus relief package.

The $993 million given to Massachusetts restaurants was sixth highest of any state in the country. And the average award of $338,000 to businesses in Massachusetts was the highest in the country. But the 2,556 Massachusetts businesses that received funding under the program were just 37.2 percent of the 6,867 that applied to the program, which SBA is shutting down Wednesday.

ireside Catering, $3,458,949

Row 34 Burlington LLC f/k/a ICOB Burlington LLC, $2,584,528

Cafe Escadrille Inc., $2,377,441

Tuscan Kitchen Burlington LLC, $2,015,343

Toasted Brothers Burlington LLC, $793,269

Servizio Corp., $631,147

WOOJEON INC., $426,268

Northeast Burgers Inc, $396,400

BRANDWORKS INC., $338,085

Nandi Foods Inc, $337,976

RUBY THAI MAX INC, $333,031

Sarkar Enterprises Inc., $332,577

Second on Third Cafe Inc., $323,498

Top Baker LLC, $283,075

EVA ENTERPRISE INC, $255,343

Vegetarian Delight Inc, $222,003

JC Group Inc, $212,702

ANDY'S SNACK INC., $194,866

BURLINGTON MALL CHARLEYS PHILLY STEAKS INC, $192,735

Winn Street Superette Inc, $168,197

L&S Entertainment LLC, $149,778

BURLINGTON GONG CHA INC, $104,721

Tawesub Group LLC, $97,105

Young Chow Loo, $60,682

JOY BBQ INC, $47,878

YALAI INC, $31,444

Eileen Ferren, $19,995

Cheng's Wok, $5,219

Kimberly Mancini, $1,223

But hundreds of Massachusetts restaurants are facing an uncertain future after the U.S. Small Business Administration said last month it was shutting down the Restaurant Revitalization Fund passed by Congress as part of the coronavirus relief package.

"For these restaurant owners, it feels like insult on top of injury," Irene Li, the owner of Mei Mei Boston and the program manager of CommonWealth Kitchen’s Restaurant Resiliency Fund, told the Boston Globe, which first reported this story. "It’s like, 'This was supposed to be for us.'"

In an email to applicants last month, SBA said the program will be "disabled" July 14. At that time, it will stop accepting applications. Nationally, the program has handed out grants to 105,000 restaurants, but another 265,000 applicants are still waiting. A bill to replenish the fund has been introduced in Congress, but it has not moved forward.

"There are thousands of operators in Massachusetts that dutifully applied for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund on the first day that it was opened. Without Congressional action to replenish the fund, restaurants across Massachusetts will face an uncertain future," said Steve Clark of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. "Many are in the ironic position of seeing increased diners but are taking in less revenue as they battle with continuously rising food prices and lack of labor and staffing issues to fully reopen."

Despite restaurant industry lobbying for Congress to replenish the fund, lawmakers have been more focused on reaching a compromise on the Biden administration's infrastructure improvement bill.

"It is a particular gut-punch for those operators that received a funding notice a few weeks ago, only to get a funding rejection letter last week," Clark said. "We need Congress to act on the RRF Replenishment Act to provide the SBA with the funds they need to complete this important mission.”