CASE STUDY: King County's Bar & Restaurants

CHALLENGES
STRATEGIC GUIDANCE FOR A COMPLICATED PROCESS

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in extreme, if not devasting, financial hardship to thousands of food businesses nationwide, including those of King County, Washington. To help local restaurants and bars successfully reopen and comply with Washington state COVID-19 prevention measures, the Safe Start for Taverns and Restaurants (SSTAR) program, under the Department of Public Health Environment Health (DPHEH), was launched in the summer of 2020. The SSTAR program provides pertinent information, education, and safety materials to local establishments. In addition to SSTAR, the King County Office of Emergency Management (OEM)’s Aid to Restaurants program was also developed with the similar initiative of supporting the revitalization of the local bar and restaurant economy. Both programs received initial funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (CARES Act) and faced a disbursement deadline of December 31, 2020, a window of only five months. 

While providing an enormous lifeline to struggling bars and restaurants, these programs required a sophisticated and technical understanding of the CARES Act funding requirements and grant reimbursement process for out-of-pocket expenses. For many of King County’s small and minority-owned businesses, where English is spoken as a second language, this was particularly challenging and required extensive multilingual community outreach on the part of the county.

  SOLUTION
FACILITATING INTERAGENCY COORDINATION AND A CLEAR APPLICATION PROCESS

SSTAR and Aid to Restaurants represented just 2 out of more than 100 CARES ACT funded relief programs initiated across 20 King County agencies for which Witt O’Brien’s provided design, implementation, and grant compliance support. This proximity to the county’s full suite of COVID-19 relief programs enabled Witt O’Brien’s to identify these overlapping initiatives and strategize a path toward maximizing community impact in the shortest amount of time possible. 

Working in close collaboration with both agencies, Witt O’Brien’s designed a streamlined process whereby each agency’s budget was allocated to specific initiatives. DPHEH’s $2.3 million was designated for compliance inspections and educational tools, and OEM’s $500,000 for the purchase of critical safety materials, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies. Both agencies contributed funds for the reimbursement of required COVID-19 materials and supplies to meet the governor's safe start requirements such as outside heaters, tents, equipment to socially-distance tables. 

However, the key to the success of these programs was the development of a clear and transparent application process for bars and restaurants. Witt O’Brien’s was charged with this initiative and designed a simplified, easy-to-understand grant agreement that outlined the compliance requirements of the CARES Act funds and itemized allowable activities and expenses. This enabled food establishments to focus their efforts on reopening in a faster, safer, and compliant manner. 

RESILIENCE DELIVERED

With Witt O’Brien’s assistance, SSTAR and the OEM provided critical information and in-person technical assistance to 3,400 food establishments and more than $140,000 in COVID-19 prevention supplies to 2,000 restaurants and bars in advance of the funding deadline. Additionally, $400,000 in direct COVID-19 expense reimbursement was distributed to 143 small food establishments. 

Witt O’Brien’s continues to support King County as new COVID-19 recovery funding streams come online, such as the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) providing design and technical compliance support for over 170 current programs. For local food establishments, these new funds enable the continuation and expansion of the SSTAR program and offer critical financial hardship mitigation, technical compliance assistance and education, and a wider scope for allowable expenses, such as measures to improve air quality, including HEPA air purifier units.