Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced that the government agency would be distributing $83 million in unobligated Restaurant Revitalization Fund money to 169 restaurant operators with pending RRF applications.
Over the summer, NRN reported on an independent audit by the U.S. Government Accountability Office that found the SBA was sitting on $180 million of unobligated Restaurant Revitalization Fund money. At the time, the SBA said that they planned to distribute the funds with help from the Justice Department, though no further details were available.
Earlier this month, the SBA provided an update that no further applications were needed, and funding would be distributed soon on a “first-applied, first-serve basis.”
According to the National Restaurant Association, the previous estimate of $180 million in leftover funding was inaccurate, and the $83 million represents the last of the RRF funding that any restaurant will ever see.  
Grants will be distributed in the order in which applications for the original RRF grants were received last year, starting this week. Operators will have until March 2023 to spend the money.
Find out more on this story from senior editor Joanna Fantozzi.