Restaurant Employee Relief Fund

The Fort Worth Food + Wine Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable foundation committed to supporting Fort Worth's culinary community. As of March 23, 2020, we are temporarily shifting our focus to include a relief fund to provide $100,000 in emergency assistance to employees of restaurants and/or bars (with food service) impacted by recent public health issues that limit available work in our community.

To contribute additional support to this initiative, you can pledge a secure donation by clicking the DONATE button below.

Donate

Or, if you're a restaurant owner or general manager, you may apply for funds to help employees who are experiencing extreme hardship as a result of the current COVID-19 crisis. Funds of up to $500 per employee are available. Applications will be approved on a weekly basis and funds will be distributed in a timely manner to the employer, to be disbursed to employee(s).

To be eligible, the owner or GM of the business that is applying on behalf of employee(s) must:

  1. Have either participated in the 2019 FWFWF, 2021 Fall Edition, registered to participate in 2020 FWFWF or be either a locally owned and operated restaurant group or an independent restaurant in Tarrant County.
  2. Have recently had a public health related layoff, furlough or business slowdown.
  3. Demonstrate need based on extreme hardship in addition to public health related closures/slowdowns.

To apply, please fill out one application on behalf of each employee for whom you are requesting funds.