PG&E Foundation awards grants to local restaurants
Grants support equipment, training and operational upgrades
Grants support equipment, training and operational upgrades– Fifteen San Luis Obispo County restaurants are among 26 Central Coast recipients of $5,000 grants awarded through the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund, supported by the PG&E Corporation Foundation and administered by the California Restaurant Foundation.
The $5,000 grants are intended to help locally owned restaurants invest in equipment upgrades, workforce training and other operational improvements. In total, the PG&E Corporation Foundation awarded $1.1 million in funding to 188 restaurants across 29 counties within Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s service area. The funding comes from PG&E shareholders, not customers.
The San Luis Obispo County recipients are: Ancient Peak Inc in Santa Margarita; Bayside Cafe at the Marina in Morro Bay; Black Sheep Bar & Grill, Ciopinot LLC, Corazon Cafe SLO, Ebony Ethiopian Cuisine, Linnaea’s Café, and Proof & Gather Baking Company in San Luis Obispo; California Coast Beer Co., Il Cortile Ristorante, Jeffry’s Wine Country BBQ and The Alchemists’ Garden in Paso Robles; Del’s Pizzeria in Pismo Beach; PiWhole Pizza in Nipomo; and Pono Pacific Kitchen in Grover Beach.
Dawn Borst, owner of Bayside Cafe in Morro Bay, said, “This grant is such a blessing. I started my restaurant with no savings, no formal training—just a passion for feeding people and some very supportive family members. Today, we’re a full-service restaurant with a loyal team and community. But with rising costs, it’s harder than ever to invest in the equipment and upgrades we need to grow. This support will help us become more efficient, expand our menu with homemade desserts. It gives us the boost we need to stay resilient and keep doing what we love.”
The program also awarded grants to seven restaurants in Monterey County, three in Santa Cruz County and one in Santa Barbara County.
The Resilience Fund prioritizes minority- and women-owned businesses and supports restaurants with fewer than five locations and less than $3 million in revenue. Since 2021, PG&E and the PG&E Corporation Foundation have contributed $4.3 million to the fund, supporting 675 restaurants and caterers in Northern and Central California.
In addition to the Resilience Fund, PG&E offers various programs to help small and medium businesses manage energy use and reduce costs. These include 0% interest on-bill financing for equipment upgrades, food service equipment rebates, access to the Food Service Technology Center, budget billing, customized energy efficiency programs, rate plan analysis tools and the Economic Development Rate, which offers eligible businesses a 12% rate discount.
For more information, visit www.restaurantscare.org.
