By OBSERVER Newsroom
The California Restaurant Foundation (CRF), a nonprofit that invests in and empowers California’s restaurants and its workforce, has secured a generous donation from The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) for its third Restaurants Care Resilience Fund. The $900,000 donation, the largest single gift the PG&E Foundation has given to CRF, will help fuel the $2.1 million statewide grant program, which will accept applications from April 15, 2023 through May 7, 2023.
Due to the generosity of the PG&E Foundation and California’s other energy companies, CRF has increased this year’s Resilience Fund grants to $5,000 and expects to help more than 360 independent restaurant owners across California build more resilient businesses for the long term.
Daddy O’s Barbecue was one of the local restaurants that received support from the grant last year.
“Thanks to the PG&E Foundation, we can continue to help restaurants in their service area build resilience and strengthen their business from the inside out,” said Alycia Harshfield, Executive Director of CRF. “The PG&E Foundation’s thoughtful donation will directly benefit the local communities served by PG&E through our third consecutive Resilience Fund program, which will launch in the coming weeks and provide more financial assistance to California’s independent restaurant owners and their families than ever before.”
From its inception, the Resilience Fund has helped 788 independent Golden State restaurants, with an impressive 367 of those grants directly funded by Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the PG&E Foundation. While last year’s Resilience Fund grants could be used on retention bonuses and equipment upgrades, this year’s $5,000 grants can be applied to technology adoption, equipment upgrades, employee onboarding and retention, or unforeseen hardships.
Resilience Fund applications will be open from April 15, 2023 to May 7, 2023 and can be found atwww.restaurantscare.org/resilience. Grants will be available to all California-based restaurant owners located in the utility companies’ service areas that have less than five units and less than $3 million in revenue. Priority will be given to restaurants that have yet to receive a grant; however, previous recipients are encouraged to re-apply.