The first reports were due in December 2021, but 32 percent were overdue as of June 2022. National Restaurant Association Nov 23, 2022, 16:51 ET WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the release of $83 million dollars in. The Senate has a $48 billion bill, with more than restaurants eligible for revitalization: gyms, minor league sports teams, companies that support live entertainment events (lighting and sound technicians, etc. Klicken Sie auf Alle ablehnen, wenn Sie nicht mchten, dass wir und unsere Partner Cookies und personenbezogene Daten fr diese zustzlichen Zwecke verwenden. Esqueci minha senha. Even the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, with its paltry $28.6 billion in initial funding, wasnt enough to meaningfully help most establishments. It's unclear whether Democrats in the evenly split Senate will be able to win over at least 10 Republicans to overcome the 60-vote threshold to end any potential filibuster and pass the measure. WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the release of $83 million dollars in unobligated Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) grants to 169 operators with pending applications. Washington, D.C. - The National Restaurant Association today sent a letter to Congressional leadership encouraging passage of Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) Replenishment if the program comes up for a vote this week. the aid could benefit? It is axiomatic that the titles of congressional bills, like the titles of Marx Brothers movies (Duck Soup, Horse Feathers), are not scrupulously informative. The SBA has contacted recipients of the awards. In 2022, many RRF updates are in the works. SBA emphasized pre-award controls to detect fraudulent or ineligible applications but has not assessed their effectiveness. (Recommendation 4), The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should develop and implement data analytics across RRF awards as a means to detect potentially fraudulent award recipients. Joanna Fantozzi | Apr 06, 2022. Writing for Reason, he noted six weeks ago that Open Table, the reservation app, shows that close to 95 percent of restaurants open in 2019 are back to accepting reservations. Most applicants got to the trough too late, when it was empty. The bill would also put $13 billion toward other businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. ET, 5 store-level changes driving the Starbucks union, How 6 restaurant giants are hiking menu prices, Starbucks faces corporate employee revolt, Wendys offers franchisees reduced royalty rate, slashes fees on new restaurants, Bonchon to double US presence within 5 years, NRA: One-third of operators predict ghost kitchens will decline, How Retailers Can Embrace New Collaborations with Brands, Reimagining the dine-in experience with technology, How Restaurants Can Turbocharge Loyalty Programs with Payment Data, Starbucks fired a union organizer. Lawmakers approved the measure in a 223-203 vote, with only about a handful of Republicans backing it. Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington. SBA took steps to detect fraudulent or ineligible applications. "I think right now it's hard to as you saw, even with the $10 billion package of new money for Covid unless they can reprogram or repurpose it, it's going to be a hard sell," he said Thursday afternoon as he exited Capitol. The 177,000 restaurants that applied but didn't receive RRF funding represent around 20% of the industry, according to the National Restaurant Association, suggesting another round of restaurant-specific federal grants could improve the industry's recovery. 2023 Restaurant Accounting Services Inc. All Rights Reserved. Six weeks ago six weeks of economic recovery ago Britschgi noted that in general, there are more small businesses open today than existed before the pandemic. And almost all government-dictated restrictions on commerce have ended. A vague, anti-drag bill in Tennessee has bar and restaurant owners worried for their future, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Congress Wont Send Any More Financial Aid to Restaurants Despite Pleas From the Industry, The Weird (and Wired) Truth Behind Whats Really in Coca-Cola, Why Coca-Cola contracts with a chemical company to manufacture cocaine in New Jersey, there was some hope that more money was coming, just about a third of the grant requests that it received because the demand was so great, exhortations from everyone from Tom Colicchio to Elizabeth Warren for Congress to provide aid to restaurants, that ongoing rise in the cost of doing business, Liquid Deaths New Tea Tallboys Are Coming for AriZonas Neck, If You Took the Drag Away, Then Its Just Another Boring Bar, How to Make Misis Iconic Ricotta-Filled Occhi Pasta. | 2 p.m. However, for expensesses incurred on February 15, 2020 or after, be careful not to use the following: So long as funds are utilized for eligible applications no later than March 11, 2023, there is no requirement for recipients to repay the funding. The Small Business Administration (SBA) began accepting applications and awarding funds in May 2021. Taking additional steps to identify and address potentially fraudulent awards in a timely manner could help SBA recover funds. A particular section of the legislation, Section 5003, laid the foundation for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. While SBA prevented over 30,000 suspicious applications from receiving awards, GAO identified systemic control weaknesses. This deadline had many restaurants wondering who is eligible, when to expect additional RRF updates to the legislation, if any additional RRF forgiveness has been granted, and which anti-fraud mechanisms were put in place to determine which claims are legitimate. To amend the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to increase appropriations to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and for other purposes. The recipient has until March 11th of 2023 to use the RRF grant unless the business has permanently closed. ABC News reported on the story, where Anon explained how he was fed up with how sensitive people have gotten . That is a serious consideration. In January 2023, SBA stated that it would conduct a review of RRF awards and use the results to inform the effectiveness of pre-award controls. I hear from business owners every day who are having to close their doors and since Congress and the White House couldnt see their way to refill the RRF, hundreds more will face the same fate in the coming weeks.. Would a grant recipient ever have to pay back any of the funds? There are several strategic . This is not an infusion of funds into the RRF currently; in fact, a new law was introduced and passed by the House of Representatives to replenish the RRF with more than $40 billion, but it did not pass the Senate (See June 2022 update below).It is not clear how, when, or to whom these RRF grants will be issued, so do not throw away any correspondence from the SBA because you may be one of the lucky stores to receive an extremely late RRF grant!As we learn more from the Small Business Administration (SBA) about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and any updates surrounding it, we will continue to make updates on the blog post and right here on The Tip Share!Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/restaurant-revitalization-fund-updates/Listen to the full Podcast Episode: https://anchor.fm/the-tip-share/episodes/Restaurant-Revitalization-Fund-RRF-Updates---August-2022-e1mtkjl/a-a8e5o0oSocial Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesIncRASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi Chapters:00:00 Intro00:15 $180 Million in RRF Unspent Funds - August 2022 Update00:48 What's next for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund in 2022 and into 2023?#RASI #FocusOnFoodNotFinances#restaurantaccounting #restaurantaccountingservices #restaurantaccountingsoftware #restaurantpurchasing #restaurantpurchasingprogram #restaurantbudgets #restaurantbudgeting #foodcosting #menuengineering #restaurantoperations #restaurantpayroll #restaurantHR #restaurantcompliance #restaurantconsulting #restaurantinventorymanagement #openingarestaurant #restaurantstartup Or 28,399 closures. Past-due expenses qualify as RRF expenses. Consider the House-passed, $55 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act, which could be the No Faction Left Behind Act.. These restaurants fighting for survival cannot go it alone any longer, and should not be treated as a spot in the rear-view mirror of Congress.". A requirement for annual reporting submissions applies to any applicant who doesnt fully expend RRF grant funds before December 31, 2021. Even the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, with its paltry $28.6 billion in initial funding, wasn't enough to meaningfully help most establishments. The Independent Restaurant Coalition, which has spent the last two years lobbying for small restaurants in the face of extreme economic uncertainty, issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the decision to abandon restaurants, calling it catastrophic for these establishments. By June 2021, the fund's $28.6 billion had been disbursed to 100,000 applicants in grants averaging $283,000. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on gathering and other crowd control measures had a huge impact on restaurant owners. Payroll costs claimed as ERTC eligible wages, Forgivable payroll expenses on the PPP forgiveness application, Nonpayroll expenses claimed on the PPP Forgiveness application. This recommendation will remain open until SBA (1) provides documentation of its review, and (2) addresses or mitigates any deficiencies identified. "This should be the driving factor in bipartisan support for replenishing the RRF. As a restaurant owner, youve most definitely heard about the varying RRF updates throughout the last year, how they could possibly impact your establishment, and more. If H.R. More than 90,000 restaurants closed permanently or long-term because of the pandemic. Two senators and two congressmen signed a letter Tuesday asking the Small Business Administration to update Congress on its plans to disburse $180 million in unallocated Restaurant Revitalization Fund money. (Recommendation 6), The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should develop and implement a plan to respond to potentially fraudulent and ineligible RRF awards in a prompt and consistent manner. The age of the Silicon Valley moonshot is over. All of the funds had to be used for valid cases and claims up to March 11, 2023. The SBA will work with the Department of Justice to disburse the money, according to the NRA. By the time it closed in July 2021, the RRF gave out just about a third of the grant requests that it received because the demand was so great. Operators receiving funds should receive notification today and SBA will begin transmitting the grants next week. www.arffinancial.com/updates-to-the-restaurant-revitalization-fund/, Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/103.0.0.0 Safari/537.36. Last year, lawmakers created. The wisdom of those measures is debatable; the pain from them is undeniable. Including $85 million for certain border region businesses, such as those in (herewith a geography lesson) the Northwest Angle, which CQ Roll Call explains is a region of Minnesota that is separated from the rest of the state by the Lake of the Woods but shares land borders with Canada, whose strict pandemic protocols injured Americans living in the Angle.

Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned.

, Executive Candidate Assessment and Development Program, Business Regulation and Consumer Protection, The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should conduct and document an assessment of the RRF pre-award controls and address or mitigate deficiencies. The Small Business Administration (SBA) began accepting applications and awarding funds in May 2021. The number of people making reservations has also returned to 2019 levels. Furthermore, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the 11 million people working in restaurants and bars in March 2022 was just 5 percent below the number in March 2019. The U.S. House and Senate passed a bill, S.4008, which wouldve added $40 billion to the plan a significant increase over the approximate $29 billion originally proposed in the RRF. The bill would provide $42 billion to replenish the RRF. For instance, it prevented over 30,000 suspicious applications from receiving awards. According to the Small Business Administration, which handles the fund, restaurants and other eligible businesses can receive funding "equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location." On April 7, 2022, the House passed H.R. What to do? SBA requires recipients to report annually on fund use, but has taken limited steps to enforce reporting requirements and identify fraudulent or ineligible awards. Are there any reporting requirements for RRF grant recipients? UPDATE: April 6, 2022:Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) introduced a bill similar to the one before the House Tuesday night. IE 11 is not supported. The American Rescue Plan created the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and includes additional funds for gyms, live venues and transit systems, among other business categories. (Recommendation 5), The Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access should develop, document, and implement procedures to use enforcement data on suspected fraud in other SBA programs, such as PPP, to identify potential fraud in RRF recipients. No later than December 31, 2021, all recipients are required to report to the SBA how much of their RRF grant has been used against each eligible use category. After this money was distributed, more than 177,000 applications were left in limbo at the SBA. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023. Among its objectives, this report examines recipient characteristics, SBA's internal controls and fraud risk management practices, and SBA's efforts to monitor recipients. This is not an infusion of funds into the RRF currently; in fact, a new law was introduced and passed by the House of Representatives to replenish the RRF with more than $40 billion, but it did not pass the Senate (See June 2022 update below). Nearly 1 year ago, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RFF) stopped taking applications. By the time it closed in July 2021, the RRF. The median award was about $126,000. Weitere Informationen ber die Verwendung Ihrer personenbezogenen Daten finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklrung und unserer Cookie-Richtlinie. If you are the site owner (or you manage this site), please whitelist your IP or if you think this block is an error please open a support ticket and make sure to include the block details (displayed in the box below), so we can assist you in troubleshooting the issue. Publicly Released: Jul 14, 2022. This plan should include coordinating with the OIG to align efforts to address fraud. Restaurant owners plead for Congresss help after omicron surge. Among the 435 congressional districts, surely not one lacks businesses eligible for aid, especially from the Senate bill. In January 2023, SBA stated that it would offer to participate in a government-wide dialogue to address systemic weaknesses related to IRS and territories' tax validation systems. Nearly 300,000 restaurants and bars applied for grants through the program last year, according to the Small Business Administration, but only a third of applicants received relief. This recommendation will remain open until SBA develops and implements policies and procedures for addressing RRF award recipients who do not meet annual reporting requirements. A large chunk of the bill, $42 billion, would replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a grant program launched as a result of the American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law last year. And by the third quarter of 2021, Britschgi writes, the number of restaurants had surpassed pre-pandemic levels.. 3807, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of 2021. Restaurant owners have taken on substantial debt and tapped into their own savings accounts, just in an effort to keep the doors open. SBA does not immediately investigate all potentially fraudulent awards, and instead waits for recipients to submit final reports (which might not be until April 30, 2023).