SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — Restaurants Care, a non-profit in California, is accepting applications from local restaurants who are looking to stay resilient going forward.
- Various cities around Kern County like Shafter and Wasco have advertised the grant for their community in an effort to offer an opportunity for them to cash in on the grant funding.
- Shafter Economic Development Coordinator Giovanni Perez told 23ABC on Tuesday morning that he was out pounding the pavement talking with local business owners to see if they had heard about the grant or even needed help applying.
- 23ABC spoke with Higinio Aviles, the owner of El Michoacano, a restaurant that is situated in the core of downtown Shafter about what he would do with the grant funding if selected, and why grants like this are important to local business owners. f
- To learn more about the grant, please check out the Restaurants Care website.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
According to statistics from the National Restaurant Association, there are over 85,000 restaurants in California, with 9 out 10 being local restaurants. I’m Sam Hoyle, your shafter neighborhood reporter. Sticking with local restaurants there’s a grant from the non-profit Restaurants Care that could help them.
The grant from the non-profit Restaurants Care is labeled as their resilience grant, and is for 5,000 dollars for technology upgrades, equipment upgrades, employee training/retention, and unforeseen hardship.
On Tuesday, the city of Shafter’s economic development Coordinator Giovanni Perez said the grant is open to local restaurants all across the city and asked if any restaurant is interested to learn if they’re eligible or need help applying?
“Give me a call or message me via email and I can either go to the restaurant and help them out at their computer or we can set up a time to go to the shafter library and learning center."
This leads us here to El Michoacan. For Higinio Aviles, the restaurant is their lifeblood and something they love to provide for the city of Shafter.
"This is kind of my life, because I’ve worked all of my life for this business. And my kids, my family are here.”
Aviles said they have a handful of ideas of what they would do if El Michoacano receives a grant, but tentatively, they would plan to use it to expand their kitchen. Aviles noted that grants like this are incredible for local business owners to help cut costs on projects because of how expensive it is to run a business right now.
“It’s expensive, everything is so expensive right now. We used to spend like half on produce, before, when I started here, it was a lot more cheaper,” said Aviles.
While we focused on a shafter business here, the grant is open to all restauranteurs around Kern County, to learn more about the grant be sure to check out the Restaurant Cares website.
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