Nearly 100 businesses to get Restaurant Relief Fund grants

Nearly 100 of Connecticut’s hardest-hit restaurants will receive $5,000 grants from the Connecticut Restaurant Relief Fund program next week, thanks to a partnership between the state’s restaurant association and delivery technology service DoorDash.

The first wave of 92 grant recipients represent all eight counties and 57 different towns and cities. Owners will use funds to cover operating costs like rent, payroll and personal protection equipment, and expanding outdoor dining capacity as spring and summer approach.

DoorDash contributed $500,000 to the relief fund in January, as part of the company’s $200 million, 5-year Main Street Strong Pledge. This included a $10 million grant program to help restaurants in select cities across the United

States and Canada. The Connecti- cut Hospitality Educational Foun- dation, the philanthropic arm of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, is administering the grants.

“The restaurant industry has been hit so hard over the past year, and it’s critical we save as many local restaurants as possible so they can be part of Connecticut’s post-COVID economic recovery,” says Scott Dolch, the CRA’s executive director.

“We are proud to partner with DoorDash and plan to start mailing checks to selected restaurants next week, exactly one year from the state mandated shutdown of in-person dining. It is our hope that this grant, along with other funding from the state and federal resources, will help our state’s restaurants keep their doors open, keep employees working, and keep serving customers while they continue to recover from this pandemic.”

More than 700 eligible businesses applied for grants from the fund, Dolch said. Grant availability is based on available funds, and is limited to one per restaurant group.

After a difficult year, restaurateurs who received the grants say the money is a “huge help,” as they plan to put the funds toward payroll, catch up on other bills or

invest in outdoor patio furniture. With vaccine rollouts on schedule and spring weather approaching, they say they’re looking forward to brighter days.

Marisa Bramato Esca, Middletown

“[This grant] will help us with payroll, electricity, gas, and just being able to survive at this moment,” Bramato said. “Anything at this point is a lifeline to us.”

The upscale wine bar and Italian restaurant on Middletown’s Main Street has suffered, Bramato said, particularly with loss of its normally busy event and banquet business. She estimates Esca’s revenue is down at least 40 percent from its pre-pandemic sales.

“It affected us tremendously and horribly,” she said.

When the March 2020 shutdown went into effect, Bramato said she worked seven days a week, trying to build up a curbside pickup operation with family-style meals. “Just so that people wouldn’t forget about us,” she said. But with a traditional finedining menu, Esca wasn’t necessarily a top choice for carryout meals.

“It was very, very tough,” she said. “People don’t think of us for takeout. They go to a pizza place, a wing place, an everyday casual place.”

Al Greenwood

Oak Haven Table & Bar, New Haven

To prepare for the busy months, Greenwood said he’s using some of his grant money to have his restaurant equipment and large appliances serviced, making sure everything is in order.

Greenwood, who co-owns the East Rock restaurant and cocktail bar, estimates his revenues were down about 80 percent in 2020. His clientele includes Yale students and staff, as well as hospital employees, and without those, “it had a huge impact on us,” he said.

He also lost business with Oak Haven’s food truck with canceled events and weddings. The summer provided relief with outdoor dining, he said. But in early November, as Gov. Ned Lamont rolled back the state’s reopening phase in response to rising COVID case numbers, “it flatlined. Completely flatlined.”

Greenwood is encouraged by increasing consumer confidence, as he’s seen an uptick in returning customers of all ages. “It’s going to be kind of the perfect storm,” he said. “Vaccinations will come to an apex and we’ll get outdoor dining back. So we’re all gearing up for a really busy spring and summer.”

Jeff Taibe Taproot, Bethel

With continued COVID restrictions on seating and spacing, Taibe’s Taproot can only seat about 16 guests. So he’s looking to offer extended outdoor dining again this spring and summer, and he hopes to use the grant money to purchase more tables and chairs.

“It could give us seven more tables, with which we could bring in more revenue,” he said.

The restaurant, which specialized in farm to table cooking, has a brand-new concept. Taibe introduced a Southeast Asian menu in late February, inspired by his time in culinary school when he lived and worked in Singapore and Thailand.

“This was something I’ve kind of wanted to do for 20 years,” he said. “Due to COVID, it made a lot of sense to have more takeoutoriented food, but in a way that I want to do it.”

Robert Monegro Chicho’s Cocina, Stamford

Monegro opened Chicho’s on Shippan Avenue in May, and he describes the COVID-era experience as “mentally defeating.”

“Everything kind of slammed shut in front of us,” he said. At full capacity, he would have had about 14 to 18 seats in the casual Latin American restaurant with tacos, burritos and quesadillas. But with such a small space, he ended up sticking to takeout.

He had been banking on business from the nearby beach area, as well as visitors from local office buildings, but COVID impacted that potential customer base. “It’s been really tough,” he said.

But he’s looking forward to a better summer, he said, and will put his grant money toward payroll, hiring back some of his former employees and building up his staff to prepare for busier months ahead. Hannah Gant and Robert Ramsey RD86 Space, New London

The unique concept, which offers dinner and brunch in addition to collaborative and educational experiences, has focused mostly on to-go prepared foods, Gant said.

“We’re looking forward to safely reopening, and growing into all of its facets,” she said. The space offers a main dining area, which serves as a pop-up restaurant and event venue; a commissary kitchen for testing and teaching, an outdoor patio with wood-fired grills, and a studio, which offers office, classroom and meeting space.

The grant money will go to assorted bills, Gant said. “We're just trying to maintain it until we can really reopen and get our revenues up.”

Hugh Russell

The Russell, Hartford

Russell moved his eponymous Jamaican and Caribbean restaurant from Pratt Street to a larger space on Allyn Street in October, but with city offices and Hartford’s nightclub district still mostly empty and quiet, “there’s just absolutely no one downtown,” he said.

But, he said, there’s been a lot of support for him as a Black business owner, and he attributes that in part to his 16 years in the city with The Russell brand.

“People want to see that [thrive]; they want to make sure I continue to be here,” he said. “That's really a true blessing and it's only because I've been around for so long. If I were a new business, there's no way I would have survived.”

Russell doesn’t do a large takeout business, he said, and his restaurant has always been known for the full experience: authentic Caribbean fare, rum cocktails, live music and dancing. He’s stopped offering happy hour, since there aren’t enough after-work crowds. Without the lively entertainment, “it’s been horrible just trying to stay afloat,” he said.

Russell plans to use the grant funding for payroll, and he’s hoping the summer will have a better outlook. “[Vaccines] will bring some normalcy, and of course having the outside [seating]” will help, he said.