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More than a dozen restaurants, bars and hospitality businesses in the Newtown area received half-a-million dollars in coronavirus-relief funding earlier this year through Pennsylvania's COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program.

 

Restaurants and food-service businesses received about 85 percent of Bucks County's CHIRP funding, about $5.9 million, while accommodation businesses received just over $1 million. Of that funding, $500,000 was directed to Newtown-area businesses.

 

Eleven received grants of $40,000, the largest amount offered by Bucks County officials:

 

Green Parrot Restaurant, Isaac Newton's Restaurant, Jules' Thin Crust Newtown, Ko Restaurant, Piccolo Trattoria Catering, Sycamore Grill, The Barn Inc., The Fancy Fig Cafe & Catering (Wrightstown), The Grey Stone Fine Food & Spirits, Vecchia Osteria, and Vince's Pizzeria & Taproom (Wrightstown).

 

The Temperance House (Newtown Borough) received a $30,000 grant, Pat's Colonial Kitchen got a $20,000 grant and Café Con Leche (Newtown Borough) got a $10,000 grant.

The pocketbooks of restaurants have been sliced and diced by the pandemic, as the National Restaurant Association says the restaurant industry lost a quarter of its revenue during the pandemic.

 

While billions in state and federal dollars have been made available, the financial cupboard is now bare and some owners say they’ve only gotten peanuts so far.

 

Beyond the tens of billions of dollars made available through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, Congress specifically fed struggling restaurants vital money through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. It was a $28.6 billion package, of which nearly $950 million came to more than 3,500 Pennsylvania establishments.

 

But the Small Business Association says that the well has run dry, with many left crying foul.

 

Reports show the top 5 percent of awardees took 40 percent of the money, meaning only one-third of Pennsylvania restaurants that applied got any money.

 

And a mandate that women, veterans, and people of color got first dibs at the aid led to lawsuits from restaurants owned by white men and conservative advocates. That led to SBA reportedly rescinding previously approved awards.

 

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Few businesses were hit harder by the pandemic than the restaurant industry, which suffered massive losses during the shutdowns than lingered on, in some form, for more than a calendar year.

 

The federal government responded through the Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

 

All told, just over a third of the Pennsylvania establishments that applied received funding. A total of 3,530 establishments were awarded, out 9,944 applicants, as the program ran out of money.

 

Funding was calculated by estimated revenue loss during the pandemic. The minimum award was $1,000, although dozens of Pennsylvania restaurants received at least $1 million or more.

 

Thousands of eateries were still left behind.

 

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