How restaurants can find funds

This spring, a bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation aimed at directing an additional $60 billion into the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, underlining the notion that while pandemic-era strains may feel like a distant memory for much of the general public, the restaurant industry continues to feel them. The renewed funding, if passed, would help support the more than 200,000 funding applicants who were unable to receive relief during the fund’s first round of disbursements in 2021. But well beyond that group of 200,000 restaurant operators, there are a host of additional restaurants looking for a safety net – or a means of making critical investments in their business – and many are finding a range of creative solutions. In a recent article from Eater, for example, restaurant operators report leaning on such funding approaches as Small Business Administration loans, private investors, crowdfunding, and just living lean and paying in cash. While the examples are varied, there are a couple of common threads running through them: Operators are trying to maintain as much control over their businesses as they can – so not giving others such a large stake that they change the direction of the business – but also involving others where possible to make them feel as if they have a role in the success of the business. One example of this is the Baltimore restaurant Candela, which is scheduled to open this summer with funding from both an SBA loan and Crowd Fund Baltimore, through which people can make a minimum $100 investment, with 6 percent simple interest over six years, paid back to investors quarterly. Candela’s owners say the crowdfunding approach is building a sense of belonging among its supporters in the community – before the restaurant has even opened its doors.