2 Mendota Heights Restaurants Awarded COVID Grant Money

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MN —Restaurants in Mendota Heights were among the more than 1,700 in Minnesota who received money from the Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was passed by Congress last year as part of a sweeping coronavirus relief package.

A total of $525,376,041 in funding was given to Minnesota restaurants – the 17th highest amount granted to any state. But the 1,718 Minnesota businesses that received funding under the program made up just under 40 percent of the 4,305 that applied to the program, which SBA is shutting down Wednesday.

In Mendota Heights, grants were given to:

• Lemonz Inc – $729,376.50
• Haiku MH Inc – $29,859.80

But restaurants across the country 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 a hundred thousand restaurants, the R.R.F. has made their future clear and stable, but for the more than 200,000 operators shut out of funding, receiving this letter today only heightens their fear and anger," Sean Kennedy, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, told The New York Times. "We need Congress to act."

In an email to applicants last month, the 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.

Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig told The New York Times she was "disappointed" many restaurants were excluded from the program and hoped her colleagues would extend its funding.

"Our government asked them to shut down during a public health crisis," she told The New York Times. "We need to work together to uphold our ongoing commitment and replenish this fund."

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.