Only 1 Richfield Restaurant Received COVID Revitalization Money

RICHFIELD, MN — One restaurant in Richfield was 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.

More than 4,305 Minnesota restaurants applied for the program, which SBA is shutting down Wednesday, but only about 40 percent of applicants were awarded funds.

• In Richfield, $311,218 was given to the El Tejaban Mexican Restaurant.

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.

Despite the 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.