These Wauwatosa Restaurants Scored COVID Revitalization Money

WAUWATOSA, WI — Restaurants in Wauwatosa were among the more than 2,095 in Wisconsin 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 $379,302,899 in funding was given to Wisconsin restaurants.

But the 2,095 Wisconsin businesses that received funding under the program were just 36 percent of the 5,871 that applied to the program, which SBA is shutting down Wednesday.

In Wauwatosa, grants were given to:

• Za Man 2 LLC — $511,168.89
• Rays Growler Gallery LLC — $449,048.00
• Rocket Baby LLC — $336,020.00
• Ca Lucchenzo LLC — $291,124.00
• Teriyaki Restaurant 102 LLC — $214,512.00
• Fu's Little Tokyo LLC — $204,887.00
• Perfecto Restaurant Group 2 Inc. — $181,932.95
• Club Tap LLC — $139,529.00
• Bamboo Door Inc. — $89,323.13
• Marcat Too Corp — $42,969.00
• Big Head Brewing Co. LLC — $31,502.33
• No. 1 Good Luck Inc. — $20,093.00

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 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.