BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The federal Restaurant Relief Fund brought more than $24.27 million into the local economy, helping 120 Space Coast food purveyors get back on stable footing after severe COVID-19 pandemic losses.
Brevard grants ranged from $3.4 million for Meg O’Malley’s Irish Pub in downtown Melbourne and $2.1 million for Coconuts on the Beach in Cocoa Beach to $3,893.64 for La Cubanita Sandwich in Melbourne., according to News 6 partner Florida Today.
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Geoff Luebkemann, vice president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said the program was crucial for restaurants in the wake of the pandemic.
“It absolutely is a critical lifeline,” he said for those businesses whose expenses didn’t stop when revenue did.
This $28.6 billion program was approved in March as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The SBA initiative provided grants to more than 100,000 restaurants nationwide and received applications from hundreds of thousands more. By July, the fund was exhausted.
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The Restaurant Revitalization Fund provided eligible businesses with money equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Aside from restaurants, those included bars, food trucks, caterers, or other similar businesses where patrons gather for the primary purpose of being served food or drink.
“It’s just amazing we got it,” said Scotty Marathas, owner of Meg O’Malley’s. “It was a horrible time we were going through. This really was a blessing that it came through, and we’re making the best use of it possible.”
The restaurant and entertainment venue was closed for 16 months in 2020. First because of national COVID-19 shutdowns and later for extensive kitchen, plumbing, and other renovations. The RRF did not go to pay for the renovations, Marathas said.
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“All the money we received, we reinvested that into the restaurant, into downtown,” he said. “I believe that was the goal of the grant, to reinvest in the businesses, make them solvent.”
The money is being used for staffing, rent, supplies, and food expenses, Marathas said.
Some is being saved to be used over the next year and a half. Businesses have until March 11, 2023, to spend the money.
Money from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund can be used for payroll, principal or interest on mortgage obligations, rent, utilities, maintenance (including construction of outdoor seating), personal protective equipment, supplies and cleaning materials, food and beverage inventory, paid sick leave, and certain covered operational expenses.
Meg O’Malley’s is busy at night, he said, but it still hasn’t returned to pre-COVID business during the day. The grant will keep the business from being strapped with loans.
Meg O’Malley’s employs 120 people, including 65 who were brought back after the shutdown, and pays hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in sales and payroll taxes.
Marathas said the grant made it easier to reopen Meg’s at full staff and to give guests the experience they expect there.
“It gave us the stability to make good decisions and make decisions we wouldn’t have been able to make if it was a different narrative,” he said. “We’re using it to its intent of making downtown Melbourne the destination I know it’s going to be.”
The program is not without its problems, however.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that one woman, Amy Williams, was listed as a recipient of $3.4 million in funds. But she said she never received money, never worked in the industry and has no idea how her name ended up on the list.
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“I don’t have any money,” Williams said. “I’d really love to know how this happened.”
But anomalies that show up in the database don’t necessarily indicate wrong-doing.
Village Idiot Pub in Cocoa Village received a $101,795 RRF grant.
“It went to upkeep of the place,” said Jason Estes, who owns the pub with his wife Rebecca. “It helped us pay the rent from being closed. It helped pay for making the outside area look nicer.”
You won’t, however, find the Village Idiot name among the list of businesses receiving money. Like many businesses receiving RRF grants, the pub’s operating name isn’t the same as its Limited Liability Company name.
Village Idiot Pub is registered with the state as Spoke and Sneaker LLC.
That’s because when the Estes were starting the business, they hadn’t settled on a name. They were located between a bike shop and a running store. By the time they opened in late 2014, they’d settled on the Village Idiot Pub, but had already started business relationships under Spoke and Sneaker.
“It’s not like we were trying to hide from what we were,” Jason Estes said. But changing the LLC name would have required a good bit of paperwork.
The grant gave Village Idiot a much-needed injection of cash. As a bar, the pub was closed several months longer than restaurants. A small kitchen has since been added to the space, and money from the fund has helped pay for that.
Here are the 5 highest RRF grants provided in Brevard County:
- Meg O’Malley’s, Melbourne, $3.4 million
- Anaconda CB Inc. (Coconuts on the Beach), $2.12 million
- Florida’s Fresh Grill LLC, Cocoa Beach, $1.65 million
- Yellowfins LLC (Golden Corral), Melbourne, $1.26 million
- The Big Mansion LLC, Melbourne, $710,582
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