Backing Historic Small Restaurants Grant Program (US)

The program seeks to assist a broad array of restaurants that have contributed to their neighborhood’s history and identity and that help tell a compelling story about cuisine and community in America.

Funding Information

• Grant Recipients will receive a grant in the amount of USD $50,000 payment (“Grant”). Selected restaurants will receive funding in two payments:
  • $40,000 initial payment within 45 days of execution of the grant agreement, and
  • one $10,000 payment upon 100% completion of public-facing improvements.
• Selected restaurants must complete exterior improvements by January 31, 2026.

Uses of the Fund

• The Grant must be used as follows:
  • at least $40,000 must be used towards exterior improvement(s); up to $10,000 of the $40,000 can be used for the support of a preservation partner to help scope, manage, develop, or collaborate on the improvement project; and
  • up to $10,000 can be allotted for unrestricted uses such as general operating expenses or any other business-related expenses for the restaurant.

Eligibility Criteria

• For the purposes of this Application Period of the Program, eligible restaurants are those businesses:
  • that have a physical location (meaning “brick-and-mortar” location) that operate in an older or historic main street, downtown or commercial district in the United States or United States territories, including local, state, or National Register of Historic Places designations (individually or contributing to a historic district), in a Main Street community, or in old buildings;
  • that are located in a community that has been disproportionally impacted by disasters or other hardships;
  • that employ fewer than 100 employees (including the company owners);
  • that are a registered business entity in good standing in the state in which it was formed and the state in which it does business (e.g., not an unincorporated contractor or self-employed individual); and
  • that are not part of a national franchise.
• Applicants must be an owner of the eligible small business and 18 years of age or older.

Ineligibility Criteria

• Digital-only businesses are not eligible (digital includes, without limitation, online and application-based businesses).
• Employees and independent and seconded contractors of the Sponsor, American Express Company (“American Express”), and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and advertising and promotion agencies, and members of their immediate family (spouse and parent, children and siblings and their respective spouses, regardless of where they reside) and persons living in the same household, whether or not related, of such employees, are not eligible to participate.

For more information, visit National Trust for Historic Preservation.