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Nearly 80 San Diego restaurants get cash grants for pandemic bounce back

Nearly 80 San Diego restaurants got $2,000 grants as they continue to bounce back from the Coronavirus pandemic

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SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Nearly 80 San Diego restaurants got $2,000 grants as they continue to bounce back from the Coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday, SDG&E and the California Restaurant Foundation presented 77 San Diego restaurants with the checks, out of its Resilience Fund.

Eligible restaurants had to show a 20 percent loss of revenue between 2019 and 2020, and on average had been in business for 11 years and had 10 or fewer employees.

While the state lifted coronavirus capacity restrictions on Tuesday, restaurants are still facing challenges.

"They're still building back from all those months of losses, they're rehiring, they are still covering the costs to retrofit patios, and all the PPE," said Alycia Harshfield, the foundation's executive director. "We're just not out of the woods yet."

Wednesday morning, a small ceremony was held at Flavors of East Africa in University Heights, where owner Alvin Owino and general manager David Buelna accepted the $2,000 check.

"Last year and this year have been the hardest of all, it was worse than even opening," Owino said. "We've already passed the hardest hurdle, and now we're getting better."

The restaurant next hopes to reopen its SDSU location, which is closed along with the departure of students.

Here is the list of the 77 local restaurants that received the grant Wednesday: