Restaurants Care Resilience Fund
California Restaurant Foundation (Restaurants Care)
$5,000
$5K for California restaurants
The Restaurants Care Resilience Fund is an annual grant program from the California Restaurant Foundation that awards $5,000 grants to independent California restaurants and caterers. Grants help cover equipment upgrades, employee training and retention, technology upgrades, and unforeseen hardship. The program is sponsored each year by utility and industry partners (recent rounds have required applicants to be commercial customers of PG&E or SoCalGas). Since 2021 the fund has awarded $11 million across 2,087 grants, and it runs a fresh round each year — recent rounds accept applications June 1–30. It is designed to be low-friction: the online application takes roughly 30–60 minutes and accepts cell-phone photos of supporting documents.
- Funding type
- Grant
- Level
- Private
- Amount range
- $5,000 – $5,000
- Realistic amount
- All awardees receive the flat $5,000 grant.
- Deadline
- Annual — recent rounds accept applications June 1–30
- Status
- active
- States
- California
- Payment model
- lump-sum
Who qualifies
- California restaurant or caterer
- 1–5 locations (apply for one location only)
- Annual revenue up to $3 million
- Currently operating
- In business at least one full year
- Recent rounds required applicants to be commercial customers of PG&E or SoCalGas (sponsor-driven; verify current-round requirement)
- Previously funded recipients may reapply for a different location
What it covers
Eligible expenses
- Equipment upgrades
- Employee training and retention
- Technology upgrades
- Unforeseen hardship / operating needs
Ineligible expenses
- Uses outside the program's stated categories (verify current-round terms)
How to apply
-
1
Confirm eligibility and the open round
Verify your restaurant meets the revenue, location, and time-in-business criteria and any sponsor requirement (e.g., PG&E or SoCalGas commercial customer) for the current year's round.
~0.25 hrs
-
2
Gather supporting documents
Collect basic business documentation; clear cell-phone photos of documents are accepted.
~0.5 hrs
-
3
Complete the online application
Apply through the Restaurants Care portal (craf.communityforce.com). The application is mobile-friendly and takes about 30–60 minutes; describe how you would use the $5,000.
~1 hrs
-
4
Submit before June 30
Submit within the June 1–30 window. Awards are announced after the round closes.
~0.25 hrs
Apply on day one of the June window — rounds are short and demand is high. Have your utility account details (PG&E or SoCalGas) ready if the current round requires customer status, since that gate eliminates a lot of applicants and is easy to satisfy if you're a commercial customer.
Deadline & timing
Runs an annual round; the 2026 round accepts applications June 1–30. Dates and sponsor/eligibility requirements (e.g., utility customer status) can vary year to year — confirm the current round on the Restaurants Care site.
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Last reviewed 2026. GrantCompass is an independent funding-discovery tool and is not affiliated with any government agency. Always confirm details on the official program page.