Sheboygan County restaurants, pummeled by pandemic conditions, are being given a lifeline through a collaboration between the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation and the Small Business Development Center at UW-Green Bay. The two entities have worked together to steer funding and consulting resources from the Wisconsin Restaurant Initiative towards hard-hit Sheboygan County restaurant owners, many of whom are fortunate to still be in business.
The Wisconsin Restaurant Initiative was formed just before the arrival of the pandemic and was soon hit head-on with the monumental task of keeping many of those businesses open. Jason Schleip of the SBDC heads up that initiative, and he payed a visit to Sheboygan County back in March, when he learned of the many that didn’t survive the pandemic conditions of the last year. He said that, “Even the ones who have made it through are mentally and physically exhausted”, and that all were happy for the help the initiative was able to offer.
Besides the free consulting, the WRI helped area restauranteurs access federal COVID relief funding last year. But Schleip said the upcoming Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide what he called “an incredible boost for those who suffered the most and managed to make it through.”
The SBA is slowly releasing information about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the application period is currently unknown. The SCEDC will work to get the information to those eligible in Sheboygan County once more is known about the program. And Schleip said that those that holding a food or liquor license in Sheboygan County should continue to check the Wisconsin SBDC website for updates on this program.
For more information on the Wisconsin Restaurant Initiative, contact Jason Schleip by email at jason.schleip@business.
For more information about SCEDC entrepreneurial services, email York@SheboyganCountyEDC.com or call 920-452-2479.
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