In North Jersey, Menendez Announces $28.6B Restaurant Rescue Fund

HOBOKEN, NJ — Struggling restaurants in New Jersey and across the country will soon be able to apply for $28.5 billion in grants to stay afloat, Sen. Robert Menendez announced in front of a pair of popular Hoboken restaurants on Friday morning.

The money, part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed by President Joseph Biden last week, can be used for restaurant salaries, rent, mortgage, personal protective equipment, supplies, and more.

The application process will open at the end of March or early April, Menendez said, and will be run by the federal government, likely under the guise of the Small Business Administration.

To help out small businesses, the fund will include $5 billion expressly for restaurants that had 2019 gross receipts of $500,000 or less. Restaurants owned by women, veterans and those in disadvantaged communities will be prioritized for that fund.

"In general, restaurants will receive grants that equal the different between their 2019 and 2020 gross receipts," Menendez's office said.

Shutting down

Two restaurant owners in Hoboken, the first city on the East Coast to close bars and restaurants amid the pandemic on March 16, 2020, said Friday that they were not sure they'd be able to reopen last year when they participated in a lockdown from March through June.

David Carney, the manager of Hoboken's Madison Bar and Grill, and Anthony Pino, who owns Bin 14 and Anthony David's, said government-funded PPP loans allowed them to rehire staff and open back up. They said restaurants are grateful for federal programs that helped them stay afloat.

(The lockdowns did flatten the virus curve; in mid-June, Hoboken went a week with only one new coronavirus case reported. Cases ticked back up after July 4 weekend.)

Pino said that innovations like "parklets," or outdoor seating that extended into the street, also helped his businesses survive, and he hopes these continue to be a way of life, bringing a bit of Europe to New Jersey.

Grace Sciancalepore, whose family has owned Hoboken's famed Leo's Grandevous restaurant for 81 years — a place known for its jukebox that plays only Frank Sinatra tunes — said her employees have been with her an average of 28 years and are "like family."

"We cried with our customers when they came to pick up food, because they missed us" early in the pandemic, she said, but noted that the uncertainty in the faces of her staff was worse.

"All of us would rather work than receive assistance," she said, but the money "will recirculate" back to the staff.

Jeanne Cretella, a board member of the New Jersey Restaurant and Hospitality Association and owner of Landmark restaurants, said hundreds of thousands of restaurant employees are still out of work, and that in New Jersey, 8 percent of employees work in restaurants.

"Brighter days are ahead for Hoboken and our hospitality industry, in large part thanks to the historic American Rescue Plan," said Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.

As of Friday, restaurants in New Jersey, as well as bars, gyms, and salons, can now operate at 50 percent capacity. Read more: NJ Lifts More COVID-19 Restrictions: What You Can, Can't Do

Want to be the first in your neighborhood to get breaking news alerts, or a daily morning newsletter of news in your town? You can sign up for Patch alerts and/or a free a daily digest of news here: Sign up and choose your preferences.

Got news? Email caren.lissner@patch.com. Got photos? Please include express written permission from the photographer for us to use them. To be the first to get free news alerts with breaking stories in your town, or to get a free local newsletter each morning, sign up for Patch breaking news alerts or daily newsletters.