As Orange County looks to move into the Orange Tier on the state’s COVID-19 monitoring list, restaurants that are looking to reconfigure service outdoors, or are in need of personal protective equipment (PPE) can receive financial incentives through the SafeDine OC Program.

The SafeDine OC Program was established in August, through a partnership between the Orange County Business Council, the Orange County Board Of Supervisors and the Orange County Environmental Health Division.

Natalie Rubalcava, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Investor Relations of the Orange County Business Council, said, “This is a program we’ve taken on with the county and the County’s Environmental Health agency, and their main objective is make sure that businesses stay open safely – this partnership really helped keep the county up and running.”

On Sept. 17, the OCBC announced new enhancements to the SafeDine OC program which increased the financial incentives available.

While grants were limited to $1,000 during the first month of the program, OCBC is ramping up benefits by offering restaurants three different reimbursement options – and removing some of the program’s challenging registration requirements.

Restaurants can now apply for $1,000, $2,500 or $5,000 grants – to be used for CARES Act-qualified purchases, such as masks, gloves and other PPE, site reconfiguration, employee training and cleaning supplies.

“The other enhancement we made to the program was eliminating the requirement for [restaurants] to provide receipts for expenditures at the time of application,” Rubaclava explained in an interview with Irvine Weekly.

“That created major issues, because many of these restaurants need this money to make some of these safety enhancements to their restaurants,” she said. “Although they don’t have to show their receipts, they do have to spend the grant money on COVID-19 related items – and they have to spend it by Dec. 30.”

Rubalcava added that as of Tuesday, Sept. 22 the OCBC has received more than 1,600 applications, which she called “a great response” for this program.

“We’ve seen an uptick in applications since this modification. Currently we are at about 1,627 applications,” she said. “We have approved 837, and we’re working on reviewing and approving the rest, so – so far so good.”

To apply, visit Safedineoc.com to fill out an electronic application. The process is estimated to take approximately 10 minutes. Applications will be required to submit official documents including a W-9, and a current health permit issued in Orange County.

Applications for the SafeDine OC are open until Oct. 16.

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