NC launches $500M program to help small businesses recover from pandemic

The North Carolina Business Recovery Grant Program allows business owners who have seen at least a 20 percent decline in revenue to apply for grants equal to 10 percent of their losses, up to $500,000. Because the hospitality industry was hit so hard by closures and other restrictions, $300 million of the fund is earmarked for restaurants, hotels, bars and other entertainment businesses.

"North Carolina’s restaurants, hotels and bars saw over $5 billion in losses due to no fault of their own. These grants will be transformative to businesses across the state who have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic," Lynn Minges, president and chief executive of the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association, said in a statement.

Minges told WRAL News that grant awards are "untethered," meaning business owners can use them for expenses from upgrading infrastructure to raising wages to help attract workers.

"There are no strings attached. This is literally a stimulus check from the government," she said. "The holidays have come early to restaurants, bars and hotels, but we need it."

Some restaurants have turned to outdoor dining to survive, especially as the number of infections statewide is once again surging.

"When you’re indoor, you have to wear a mask. Outdoor, you do not," said Will O'Neal, co-owner of Winston's Grille.

Winston's spent $100,000 to install ceiling heaters and cover openings to the outside with plastic tarps to make outdoor dining the norm at the north Raleigh restaurant.

The outdoor option brought Dina Soceanu and her co-workers to Winston's for lunch Thursday.

"We said that’s where we are going, and it was great because that’s the only restaurant we searched that was close that had outdoor seating," Soceanu said. "We were actually supposed to have our Christmas department celebration this evening, but we were a little nervous about being outside. So, we said, 'Hey, let’s go out for lunch because the weather is great.'"

The National Restaurant Association reports that 17 percent of restaurants across the U.S. – 110,000 – shut down during the pandemic. O’Neal said he believes the ones that have and will continue to survive, especially with new virus variants, need to put resources into making outdoor dining a year-round option.

"Anything you can to do it make it better to safely serve people, I’d do it," he said. "We get thanked all the time."

According to online reservation service Open Table, the number of seated diners is down 19 percent in December from the same period in 2019 – before the pandemic. Nationwide, that decline is 12 percent.

"Dealing with the last year, year and a half, I’ve never seen anything like it," O'Neal said.

Although the state Department of Revenue opened the grant application process on Thursday, the money for it was included in the state budget enacted last month. Minges called it the largest appropriation by any state for the hospitality industry.

Other options for outdoor dining in Raleigh:

Crank Arm Brewing | 319 W. Davie St. | Outdoor Fire pit

Bittersweet Raleigh | 16 E. Martin St. | Outdoor heaters

Morgan Street Food Hall | 411 W. Morgan St. | Dog-friendly patio with heaters

Raleigh Beer Garden | 614 Glenwood Ave. | Tables with fire pits

Longleaf Hotel | 300 N. Dawson St. | Private patio with heaters + blankets

Trophy Brewing | 827 W. Morgan St. | Heaters on outdoor patio

Whiskey Kitchen | 201 W. Martin St. | Patio heaters

Vic’s Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria | 331 Blake St. | Enclosed patio

Gravy | 135 S. Wilmington St. | Shares a heated patio with Sitti

Sitti | 137 S. Wilmington St. | Shares a heated patio with Gravy

Humble Pie | 317 S. Harrington St. | Covered patio with heaters

Hummingbird Raleigh | 1053 E. Whitaker Mill Road | Patio heaters

Caffe Luna | 136 E Hargett St. | Heat lamps

Cowfish Sushi + Burgers | 4208 Six Forks Road | Enclosed heated patio

STIR Raleigh | 4242 Six Forks Road | Patio heaters

Rosewater Kitchen + Bar | 110 Park at North Hills St. | Covered patio with heaters

Vivace | 4209 Lassiter Mill Road | Dog-friendly patio with heaters and fountain

Bowstring Pizza and Brewyard | 1930 Wake Forest Road | Fire pit + garden patio

Angus Barn | 9401 Glenwood Ave. | Heated outdoor seating

Lynnwood Brewing Concern | 1053 E. Whitaker Mill Road | Outside heaters

Winston’s Grille | 6401 Falls of Neuse Road | Covered patio with heat lamps + ceiling heaters

Chow | 8311 Creedmoor Road | Dog-friendly patio with heaters