The Connecticut Restaurant Association is seeking businesses donors to help fund its new Restaurant Relief Fund, after a large initial donation led to a flood of applicants this week.
Late last week the national food delivery service DoorDash donated $500,000 to the fund, which will be distributed as $5,000 grants to individual restaurants. Over 570 applications were received by Wednesday morning, three days after the fund began taking applications. While more than 350 have already been vetted and deemed eligible, the current funding allows for only 100 grants.
Applications are still pouring in. The deadline is Feb. 5.
“I would love to give out grants to everyone that’s eligible, and for that we’d need $5 million, not half a million,” CRA Executive Director Scott Dolch said. He also notes that the current grants are specifically earmarked for restaurants that currently or might potentially partner with DoorDash.
The CRA intends to reach out to other corporations, as well as small businesses and private individuals, to grow the fund as quickly as possible and broaden the pool of those who are eligible for relief.
The large DoorDash donation has provided a chance for bringing in other donors, Dolch said. “I didn’t want to go out to corporations until the fund had been established.”
The association is also talking to banks, Connecticut Business & Industry Association and others. No other corporate donors have been confirmed yet.
It’s in the interest of any business to support the restaurant industry during this crisis, Dolch said. “When some of these businesses return to their offices in downtown Hartford, I assume they will want to have restaurants there.”
Small individual donations are also welcomed, Dolch said. “We’re not going to turn away anyone who wants to donate. We made the fund so that anyone can donate. We’ve gotten $100, $300 donations in the last few days.” He says raffles and trivia matches have been held to raise money for the fund.
Dolch says the fund will be able to give relief to restaurants that may not be eligible for other grants, such as those that require applicants to show losses within a certain time frame. Some grants are only available to restaurants, while Dolch sees a need to expand relief efforts to cover caterers and private venues who are also struggling during the pandemic.
The Restaurant Relief Fund was preceded in April by a separate fund which provides relief to restaurant employees. Over 300 stipends and grants have been given to individuals through that fund. “We continue to help employees,” Dolch said. “Now we are also helping businesses.”
Christopher Arnott can be reached at carnott@courant.com.
