The PG&E Corporation Foundation Grantees Include 17 Small Restaurants in Grass Valley, Quincy, Sierra City, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Stockton and Plymouth
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Just in time for the holidays, locally-owned Northern and Central California restaurants will receive a financial boost from the California Restaurant Foundation (CRF) and The PG&E Corporation Foundation (PG&E Foundation) through grants to invest in equipment upgrades, workforce training and more — all intended to help increase their longevity and business success.
The PG&E Foundation’s $900,000 charitable contribution to CRF this year will fund $5,000 grants to 77 hometown restaurants in Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) service area, as well as operating support for CRF. The funding will also support a second round of grants to be announced in the fall. This is the second round of grants announced this year; the first round of grants were announced in June.
Among the grant recipients are 17 restaurants in the greater Sacramento area, including:
- La Gastronomia, Grass Valley (Nevada County)
- Lucio’s, Quincy (Plumas County)
- Sierra Pines Resort, Sierra City (Sierra County)
- Taste Restaurant, Plymouth (Amador County)
- Casa Flores, Stockton (San Joaquin County)
- Midtown Creperie and Café, Stockton (San Joaquin County)
- Poppy Coffee, Stockton
- Azayaka Japanese Fusion, Sacramento
- Cacio, Sacramento
- Cucos Taqueria, Sacramento
- Frog & Slim, Sacramento
- Fujiya, Elk Grove
- Juhachi, Sacramento
- Karen’s Bakery Café, Folsom
- Lollibowl, Sacramento
- Sampino’s Towne Foods, Sacramento
- SpiderMonkey’s Dessert Studio, Sacramento
The Foundation’s contribution to CRF’s Restaurants Care Resilience Fund current grant cycle will help grantees pay for equipment and technology upgrades, unforeseen hardship, employee retention bonuses and training to help restaurant owners invest in their business and people. Grants were made available to California resident restaurant owners with fewer than five units and less than $3 million in revenue, and prioritized minority- and women-owned businesses.
“PG&E and The PG&E Corporation Foundation have provided invaluable and unwavering support for the Restaurants Care Resilience Fund since its inception in 2021, which has led to hundreds of independent restaurant owners across Northern and Central California fortifying their businesses for the long haul,” said Alycia Harshfield, Executive Director of California Restaurant Foundation. “We are thrilled to have been able to open applications for a second time this year and again award $5,000 grants to owners looking to enhance their restaurants via technology adoption, equipment upgrades, employee onboarding and retention, or overcoming unforeseen hardships.”
In 2021 and 2022, PG&E and PG&E Foundation’s charitable contribution totaled $1.4 million and supported 367 restaurants with grants. With this year’s contribution, the combined total is now $2.3 million supporting a total of 521 restaurants, with an additional grant period still to come in the fall. You can watch videos of past grant winners in PG&E’s service area here.
“Our hometown, locally owned restaurants are the hearts and souls of our communities and the places where our family and friends gather to celebrate and create memories. We’re so grateful for the California’s Restaurant Foundation’s continued partnership as we work together to help secure the long-term success of these local businesses. When our small businesses thrive, so do our communities,” said Joe Wilson, regional vice president of PG&E’s North Valley & Sierra Region.
Assisting Small and Medium Businesses
PG&E remains committed to providing ways for its small and medium business customers to save energy and money. Here are some ways PG&E is helping its customers:
- Contacting business customers who would save money by choosing a better rate plan for their operations — projected to save customers over $9.5 million this year. Utilize PG&E’s online rate tools to run your own analysis atpge.com/rateanalysis.
- Providing COVID-19 relief and support information to all small business customers, including PG&E no-cost energy assessment, resources and external support for businesses such as California state programs at pge.com/opportunities.
- Launching a NEW energy efficiency program that provides assessments and upgrades at no-cost: simplifiedsavingsprogram.com.
- Increasing outreach to small business customers highlighting payment support and energy-savings programs through email campaigns, PG&E’s Energy Advisors, and direct mail.
- Conducting outreach to eligible customers to enroll in a discounted rate for businesses struggling to stay open.
- Offering rebate and financing solutions to help small business customers realize sustained cost savings.
PG&E helps customers reduce costs and improve energy efficiency and resiliency with various programs and tools. In the past five years, these programs have helped small and medium business customers save 166 million kWh of electricity — a savings of $33 million.
For more information on PG&E Small and Medium Business customer support visit pge.com/smbsupport.
For more information on the California Restaurant Foundation, Restaurants Care, or the Restaurant Resilience Fund, visit restaurantscare.org.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and http://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.
About The PG&E Corporation Foundation
The PG&E Corporation Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, separate from PG&E and sponsored by PG&E Corporation.