Resilience Fund
Apply for a Small Business Grant!
April 9-26
Since 2021, the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund has awarded $7.3 million in grants to 1,603 independent restaurants across California—supporting burger joints, taquerias, bakeries, and more that are the heart of our communities. In 2025, we’re offering two grant opportunities to help restaurants thrive: $10,000 grants for LA County restaurants and food trucks impacted by the 2025 LA Fires and $5,000 grants for restaurants and commercial caterers in select CA counties to build resilience.
$10,000 LA Fire Recovery Grants
For independent restaurants and food trucks in Los Angeles County impacted by recent fires to support recovery.
$5,000 Resilience Grants
For independent restaurants and commercial caterers in select CA counties to build resilience.
Meet Past Grant Recipients!
1,603 independent restaurants received grants to build resilience within their businesses.
Funding Categories
- Equipment upgrades – 28%
- employee training + retention – 25%
- COVID – 24%
- Hollywood Strikes – 13%
- Technology upgrades – 6%
- Unforeseen hardship – 4%
Fun Facts
- 46 counties in CA represented
- Single unit: 91%
- Full-service: 50%
- Average number of years in business: 10
- The restaurants collectively employ 14,000+ people
Restaurant Spotlights
meet a few of the incredible restaurants
The Serving Spoon, Inglewood
Opened in 1983, The Serving Spoon has become a community staple in Inglewood! The restaurant is now owned by Justin and Jessica, the 3rd generation owners.
“We are the family reunion that you can come to everyday of the week.”
Hila Gelato, San Francisco
After spending over 20 years in Sicily working in the food industry and another 10 years as a chef in a gelato shop, Hila seized the opportunity to bring my expertise to San Francisco. With the support of the local community, she opened Hila Gelato and Caffè, a place where they craft Sicilian gelato and desserts from scratch and serve Italian-style coffee drinks like espresso, cappuccino, and affogatos.
TAP Wine Lounge, Sacramento
TAP Wine Lounge stands out not just as a wine lounge but as a community hub where people come to unwind, connect, and enjoy each other’s company. TAP exclusively serves and showcases the largest selection of Black boutique wine brands in Northern California, all within a sophisticated living room setting.
How did this start?
Restaurants Care, a program of the nonprofit California Restaurant Foundation, is a relief fund for food and beverage workers. We provide grants of up to $2,500 directly to cooks, servers, dishwashers and more when they face an unforeseen hardship.
Given the extraordinary circumstances brought on by the pandemic, we recognized a need to go further and help restaurant businesses stay open and keep their crews employed. The Resilience Fund was born.
What started as a response to the pandemic has evolved into a permanent fund to build resilience within our restaurant community.
We love restaurants. We’re here to help.
Media Inquiries
For media inquiries, please contact Powerhouse + Co
Kelly Itatani at kelly@powerhouseandco.com
Media Coverage
A Relief Fund with Heart
In addition to our small business grants, Restaurants Care also offers relief funding to food and beverage workers in crisis. Year-round we help the servers, cooks, and dishwashers at the heart of restaurants with grants fo up to $2,500. To learn more about our fund for food and beverage workers click here.
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