205. Reef Goes Into Pizza and Restaurants Get $42 Billion

The Restaurant Report

Today I breakdown Reef Kitchens as they seek an ownership stake in 800 Degrees Go, a joint venture between restaurant chain 800 Degrees and robotics company Piestro, 800 Degrees Go announced Thursday. Reef will also open 500 800 Degrees Go locations through 2027, and Kenneth Rourke, Reef’s EVP of kitchens and brands, has joined 800 Degrees Go’s board.
800 Degrees Go currently operates out of 40 Reef locations in 13 markets and expect to open 100 more units this year, according to the press release. Reef initially announced a deal with 800 Degrees eight months ago to operate 500 mobile units by 2026. These plans and Reef’s current deal with 800 Degrees Go are one and the same, 800 Degrees CEO Tommy Lee wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive.
This past Thursday the House of Representatives passed The Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 (H.R. 3807), which would add $42 billion into The Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The bill, which will soon face the Senate, would also allocate $13 billion for other businesses with less than 200 employees that were hurt by the pandemic environment.
If H.R. 3807 passes the Senate, the 177,000 restaurants that were approved for RRF grants but did not receive funding before the portal closed are already in a queue to receive grants, legislators said on a media call hosted by the Independent Restaurant Coalition on Thursday afternoon. About 20% of the industry will be eligible and will be asked by the SBA to sign a form confirming their businesses are either open or will reopen in the next sixth months. No additional application requirements will be necessary.