DoorDash, in partnership with the Accion Opportunity Fund, announced that 14 metro Atlanta restaurants will receive $20,000 in grant dollars due to a new program spearheaded by the two organizations.
The Main Street Strong Accelerator Program sets out to help businesses owned by people of color and women, providing resources and knowledge to strengthen and grow the businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We thank DoorDash and are really excited about the DoorDash grant and the Main Street Strong Accelerator Program,” said Quiana and Waleed Shamsid-Deen, owners of Supreme Burger in Decatur, GA, which is one of the selected restaurants.
Since opening three years ago, the owners have made it a point to hire from the local community (including transition centers and halfway houses) and provide food donations and sponsorships to the local schools and nonprofits.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Supreme Burger launched the first Halal Meals on Wheels Program for Muslim seniors in Metro-Atlanta and set up an Emergency Food Distribution site for K-12 students in South DeKalb.
Their restaurant is part of the inaugural class of 100 restaurants that will participate in the new program, which is an eight-week course that will provide participants with an immersive curriculum covering topics such as marketing, technology, integration, money management, and menu creation.
They will also receive one-on-one financial and legal support, as well as free merchandising and marketing benefits from DoorDash.
Eligibility for restaurants to participate included:
- Having three or fewer restaurant locations
- Having been operating for 2 or more years
- Having 50 employees or fewer across all locations
- Located in NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia or Atlanta
- Able to commit three hours per week to the program from April 5th-May 28th
Only 38 percent of the participating restaurants in the program are Black-owned.
Here’s a list of the other 13 Atlanta-area restaurants that will be joining include:
The Wing Suite, Buenos Dias Café, El Ponce, D Cafe and Catering, The Funnel Cake Guys, Pi-bytes, Tigi’s Cafe and Food Truck, Farmed Kitchen and Bar, Canna Bistro, iNatural Eats, Lolita’s Parlour, Lee’s Southern Kitchen, and Krab Kween.
The first week of the program is dedicated to finding a niche and by the end of the program, each participant will have new tools to bring to their restaurants.
As for the $20,000, participants received $10,000 at the beginning of the program in early April. The second installment will be given after each restaurant completes the program in May.
For more on this program, visit this link.
