The California Restaurant Foundation awarded 18 San Diego County food businesses $5,000 grants to invest in long-term growth, which was hobbled by COVID-19 over the past few years.
“It’s amazing because right now, this is probably the most challenging time since I opened my first restaurant seven years ago and it’s great to have this type of support,” he said. “The biggest challenge has been the insane inflation that we’re facing,” he said. “That changed all the dynamics because the labor costs skyrocketed. Any type of supply from raw material to napkins to boxes to glassware, doubled tripled the price and in San Diego in particular.”
Ambrogio by Acquerello co-founders Giacomo Pizzigoni, left, Andrea Burrone, Silvio Salmoiraghi and Paolo Tucci at the new restaurant in La Jolla.. San Diego had 8 to 9 percent fewer seated diners in March and April 2023 over a year earlier, according to Open Table. The local grant recipients cover the county from a Cuban restaurant in Chula Vista to a saloon with live music in Santa Ysabel and a banana-themed coffee shop in Oceanside.helping restaurants move from responding to the pandemic to building a resilient business.