Patrick Kelley, associate administrator for the Small Business Administration's Office of Capital Access, told a Senate Small Business Committee hearing that the SBA expects to launch a phased rollout of the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund in early April, according to the Journal of Accountancy.

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund is part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, signed into law on March 11, 2021. While the RRF is similar to the Paycheck Protection Program, its amounts are based on lost revenue rather than payroll, according to LanePowell, which published an analysis of the measure in Lexology. The program is administered directly by the SBA instead of bank loans guaranteed by the SBA.

The rescue plan language defines eligible entities as "a restaurant, food stand, food truck, food cart, caterer, saloon, inn, tavern, bar, lounge, brewpub, tasting room, taproom, licensed facility or premise of a beverage alcohol producer where the public may taste, sample, or purchase products, and other similar places where the public or patrons assemble for the primary purpose of being served food or drink," according to Lexology.