Three woman-owned Cape Cod restaurants awarded $5,000 grants
Three woman-owned restaurants on Cape Cod were among 80 restaurants that received $5,000 grants from the Massachusetts Conference for Women.
The Pickle Jar Kitchen and Osteria La Civetta, both in Falmouth, and Wok-n-Roll Chinese Restaurant, in South Yarmouth, were selected statewide for the grants.
More than 500 restaurants applied for the awards, which were given in December.
“It was a bigger initiative than we had anticipated,” said Laurie Dalton White, executive director of the conference.
Since 2005, the conference has gathered women together for a daylong series of talks, sessions and networking opportunities. The annual event features breakout sessions on everything from risk-taking to personal development, financial planning to career advancement and lessons in leadership.
Keynote speakers have included Stacey Abrams and Doris Kearns Goodwin, Malala Yousafzai and Megan Rapinoe. The conference has grown — even with COVID-19 making it virtual in 2021.
Prior to 2021, the conference was held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center but space limitations meant a cap of 10,500 participants, according to White. About 17,000 women bought tickets to the Dec. 2 virtual conference event last year.
“It speaks to isolation, the wanting to connect, the need for inspiration,” White said. “We have a community we need to support and give back to.”
And it speaks to the challenges facing restaurant owners. Some of those challenges include providing decent wages for employees rather than raising prices, paying bills during the lean winter months and finding staff — a job that has become more and more difficult for business owners.
The conference originally planned to give out $300,000 in $5,000 grants. When White received 500 submissions, she went back to her board of directors and asked for more money. The board gave her another $100,000 for an additional 20 grants.
With the help of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, they selected 80 individuals, focusing on smaller restaurants that hadn’t received grants under the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
“It’s tough out there,” White said.
For Sara Toselli, owner of an 80-seat restaurant, Osteria La Civetta in Falmouth, the money will go towards staffing and to help keep staff healthy.
“It will all go to payroll, especially now with COVID,” she said. “We’ll buy masks and sanitizer. I never thought we’d need 500 masks a month.”
The restaurant never closed during the pandemic, but there were changes galore. Some were made overnight, she said. When the state instituted a lockdown, the restaurant went to takeout immediately.
"We had to switch up the entire operation,” she said. “There were a lot of adjustments to make.”
Federal and state guidelines about masks and social distancing changed frequently. Diners turned to takeout meals during closures, and that trend continued past the state restrictions. Toselli and chef Federico Mainardi changed the menu from a seasonal one to a daily one.
The restaurant will close briefly because Toselli has a work visa that requires her to return to Italy for a month. She’ll visit wine makers and meat and cheese producers to see if they have new products she can bring back to Falmouth..
Owners of Pickle Jar Kitchen, a restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and house pickles, and Wok-n-Roll Chinese Restaurant, offering lunch and dinner specials, could not be reached for comment.
Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Three woman-owned restaurants on Cape awarded $5,000 grants
