“I’m not sure how we would have done it without that,” he says of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants. SBA records show he received $278,051.
They applied for the funds “as soon as the portal opened,” which could have put them ahead in the line. Mark’s dad and owner of the cafe, Dale Wootton, is a Navy veteran. Peticolas had no idea that some business owners, like Jordan, were promised funds and never received them.Early on in the pandemic, businesses in Texas were asked to prove that at least 51% of sales came from food, in order to remain open during certain phases of the governor’s COVID-19 reopening plan. Peticolas, a brewery without a kitchen, couldn’t do that. “If the government says I need to be closed, I’m going to be closed,” he says.