Restaurants win $28.6B relief fund in Biden's stimulus. Here's how it works.

The Small Business Administration is expected to make grants to restaurants quickly under the industry's $28.6 billion set-aside from the $1.9 trillion stimulus law enacted last week.

The goal is for money to flow "in weeks, not months," Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said on a media call last week. His bill, The Restaurants Act, served as the model for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund in the new law.  

Although it's the biggest funding set-aside in the stimulus package, the grant program will only help offset about 10% of the losses the restaurant industry has sustained since the start of the pandemic.  

"I wish [the funding] happened earlier, honestly, because I definitely know some folks that have thrown in the towel," Steve Hooper, president of Ethan Stowell Restaurants and board member of the Seattle Restaurant Alliance, said. "Emotionally they were just over it."

As of Dec. 1, more than 110,000 restaurants — or 17% of the country's foodservice establishments pre-pandemic — were closed temporarily or permanently, according to National Restaurant Association data. 

Grants are expected to be available through at least September, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) has said.