10 restaurants each receive $10K in Key Bridge relief fund grants

The cost of eggs keeps rising, and it’s keeping restaurateur Marie Branch up at night.

From almost $20 a case one month to over $100 at Restaurant Depot the next, Branch’s small breakfast eatery Simply Marie’s fears spending more than they’re able to sell. It’s the latest in a procession of hurdles facing Baltimore business owners who’ve struggled to outlast escalating costs during the COVID-19 pandemic and then again following the collapse of the Key Bridge in March 2024.

“I’m scared to wake up to the next price,” Branch said. “I try to save every dollar I get.”

But grants from DoorDash’s Restaurant Disaster Relief Fund, aimed at businesses still reeling from the loss of the Key Bridge, are raising Branch’s spirits. Simply Marie’s was announced Tuesday as one of 10 local spots taking home $10,000 to help buoy operations. And while it’s unclear whether that amount will protect Branch from a scrambled egg market, she said, it’s a worthwhile investment in keeping her doors open as new challenges arise.

At a Tuesday roundtable hosted by one of the grant recipients, Twist Fells Point, a representative for the Maryland Restaurant Association called the industry’s outlook “extremely tough.” The organization’s partnership with DoorDash and Gov. Wes Moore’s office opened $100,000 worth of relief funds to businesses within ZIP codes near the bridge’s collapse. Eligible eateries applied in December under the criteria that each had between one and three brick-and-mortar locations, 50 employees or fewer at each spot, with revenues of $3 million or less over the previous 12 months.

The other recipients of the grant included Sunset Raw Juice Bar, Cheezy’s Pizza & Subs, Deddle’s Donuts, Frank’s Bay Tavern, Marie Louise Bistro and Catering, No. 1 Chinese Kitchen, Pho Bac and Salty Dogs Crab House.

Six months after the bridge collapse, data from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the state Department of Commerce showed many local businesses had yet to recover from the historically low number of shipments brought into the Port of Baltimore afterward, The Banner reported. And while the Department of Commerce promised grant funding for businesses looking for an alternative to new loans, the need quickly outgrew the funds. Hundreds ended up applying for over $24 million in relief, when the state had $15 million to disburse.

Sunset Raw Juice Bar owner and former Baltimore Ravens player Gerrard Sheppard was emotional as he talked about how the DoorDash grant will affect his business.

“I’m thankful,” he said, welling up with tears.

Sheppard’s two locations in Owings Mills and Maple Lawn were hit hard by markups on bags, bottles, lids and straws when the Key Bridge fell. “Everything we used every day went through a price gouge,” he said, adding that the business had also turned from single-use plastic to reusable glass bottles, as advised by U.S Environmental Protection Agency guidance, which further raised costs.

They tried to pivot. Sheppard cut goods in his stores that weren’t selling and searched for new vendors to compare prices. He referred to the last year as one of unknowns: “You can’t prepare for something you don’t know is coming,” he said. So far, he’s invested the grant into refrigeration and fixing needed machinery. But with recent tariffs on produce and the rocketing costs of fresh fruits, he said the business is still shaken.

“I’m going to be able to sleep a bit easier at night,” Sheppard said of the grant. “I don’t know what’s going to happen if prices take another hike.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Cheezy’s Pizza & Subs.