These 194 Montco Restaurants Have Received COVID Grant Funds

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Montgomery County has announced the initial wave of recipients of nearly $2 million in grant funding aimed to relieving the financial burden of the pandemic on the local restaurant industry.

Of 866 applicants, a total of 194 have received grants so far, and more than $4 million in funding remains as applications continue to be evaluated.

Awards are $10,000. Winning recipients came from 47 different municipalities. Efforts were made to target historically disenfranchised groups with these funds, and officials said that 33 percent of restaurants are minority-owned, 39-percent are women-owned, and 8 percent are veteran-owned.

“We know that our restaurants and other food businesses are working hard to stay open right now with limited, and sometimes without, in-person dining,” Montgomery County Commissioner Ken Lawrence said. “Montco’s restaurant industry is a cornerstone of our economic and workforce development, as well as central to the growth of entrepreneurship, job opportunities, and our communities.”

>>As Restaurants Struggle, Montco Offers $5 Million In Relief Funds

The deadline for applications was Jan. 8. The program has originally put aside $5 million for support, and that number was boosted to $6 million.

Restaurants were already limping to the end of 2020 when the fall surge of coronavirus hit, sending case numbers and hospitalizations skyrocketing. Stricter mitigation measures were handed down at the state level in Pennsylvania two weeks ago, disallowing all indoor dining until Jan. 4.

A full list of recipients of funding thus far is included here.