Tadich Grill, the oldest restaurant in San Francisco and the third oldest in the country, at 171, discovered this week that it would receive up to $ 31,000 a month to help it stay afloat after being almost completely closed since March due to the pandemic.
The money comes from the Barstool Fund, a $ 19 million fund founded by the controversial sports website Barstool Sports with company funding, in addition to donations from celebrities and the general public. The fund supports small businesses affected by the pandemic and the closing of restaurants and other businesses. The Buich family, owner of the classic seafood restaurant, learned Wednesday about the financial support.
“The Barstool fund is a lifeline,” said Yvette Buich, who runs the restaurant with her husband, Mike. “It doesn’t cover the growing bills we’ve accumulated since we were forced to close in March, but it will only help in the basics to have a restaurant in town. The timing could not have been better, since all other sources of money are gone or stopped. “
That includes more than $ 69,000 that the restaurant raised through a GoFundMe account, said Buich, who left almost eight years of retirement to return to work as a nurse while the restaurant is closed; she administers coronavirus vaccines in long-term care facilities. Open for take-away and delivered shortly during the summer, the restaurant was able to pay its employees from March to August, taking advantage of both business and personal savings, including Mike Buich’s retirement account, said his daughter Melanie Pipas.
When they signed up for the Barstool Fund, they asked for $ 31,000 a month to cover running expenses that didn’t go away while they were closed, such as property taxes, utilities, insurance and equipment rentals, Pipas said. The family owns the building in downtown San Francisco.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy posted a video of a call to Pipas’ sister Jen Whitaker about the background on Twitter on Thursday.
“It’s a no-brainer – you’re in San Francisco, where clearly the roadblocks are just as bad as anywhere,” Portnoy said on the call. “We want to be there. We want to help. “
In a separate video, Portnoy said that Barstool Fund was started with $ 500,000 from the company and then increased with crowdfunding, similar to a Gofundme account. The fund helped almost 90 small businesses, mainly on the East Coast, including restaurants, sports bars, hairdressers and laundries. Tadich Grill is the first Bay Area company to welcome you.
Pipas said the family was unaware of Portnoy’s story of making racist and misogynistic comments or accusations of sexual harassment against him. Last summer, the remarks he made in 2016 comparing former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to Osama bin Laden resurfaced on social media. The Buich family has been involved in their own accusations of racism in the past, linked to a family member who is no longer in the business.
“There is no room for racism and racist comments,” said Pipas. “Wherever in his heart he has the ability to make a significant difference for small businesses, he is doing this and we are grateful for that.”
Members of the Buich family have repeatedly emphasized the importance of financing, now that loans from the government’s Salary Protection Program have run out and the restaurant has not qualified for state or local subsidies. The family continues to hear from loyal customers how much the restaurant means to them, which is one of the main reasons they want to stay until the city allows meals indoors to be resumed.
“We feel like we’re going to make it now,” said Buich. “This is giving us the boost we need until we can open our doors at least 50% of capacity again.”
Tara Duggan is assistant food editor for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @taraduggan