Objective

Local restaurants, owned and run by your friends and neighbors, are one of those things that make each community special. They are the places where people come together, share a meal and connect. These stories show the indomitable spirit of California small business owners and the vital role they play in every community.

Strategy

In 2021, PG&E and other California utility companies recognized the need to support small, local businesses hurting from the impact of the pandemic. In partnership with the California Restaurant Foundation’s Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation helped create a fund to help restaurants. The grants pay for equipment and technology upgrades, unforeseen hardships, employee retention and training to help restaurant owners invest in their business and people.

Grants are made available to California resident restaurant owners with fewer than five units and less than $3 million in revenue. The program prioritizes minority- and women-owned businesses.

"From Kitchen to Community" is a video series, produced in partnership with the California Restaurants Foundation (CRF) and their Restaurants Care program, aims to show the Californians behind the local restuarants we all love and make each of our communities so special. This series of stories reflects the diversity of restaurants owners and their communities across the state and the varied challenges they have faced since the pandemic. The series shines a light on the ingenuity and communities who have supported these restaurants through the toughest of times, and helped them survive to the other side of the pandemic. 

This series has been promoted on social media with both PG&E and the CRF, won Webby and Ragan/PR Daily Awards, as well as played the Sonoma International Film Festival, where in partnering with the Festival, it helped raise more than $17,000 for the Redwood Empire Food Bank. 

Results

Over the last three years, PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation have contributed over $3 million.

• The funds will support nearly 700 restaurants across PG&E's service territory in Northern and Central California. 
• The grants, ranging from $3,000 to $5,000, have helped restaurants stay afloat, enabling them to purchase needed energy efficient equipment and retain their staff during challenging financial times.
• Among this year’s grant recipients, 80% are single location establishments with an average 10 years in business, 79% of recipients identify as female and 76% of owners identify as minority.
• Some 70% of this year’s recipients plan to use the $5,000 grants for kitchen equipment or technology upgrades, and 21% will dedicate the funds to employee retention bonuses.

“We all have fond memories of celebrating special occasions with the people we love at our hometown restaurants — with good meals at the center, they truly are the gathering spots in our communities. Through our partnership with the California Restaurant Foundation, we want to make sure these neighborhood businesses, many of them family-owned and operated, continue to thrive for years to come,” said PG&E Corporation Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer Carla Peterman.

Media