A single mother who immigrated from Mexico when she was 16, Carmen Colon always worked a regular full-time job while raising four children, learning to speak English and becoming a U.S. citizen.
While helping a local church cook for large groups of people, Colon started to cater small events on her own, growing her business by making food for weddings, corporate events and Quinceañeras.
Founder and Owner
Cocina Del Carmen
Three years ago, she broke away from catering and founded Cocina Del Carmen in Vista, “to fulfill my dream of having my own restaurant and having a place for my children to work and learn responsibilities.”
She even remembers the exact date she opened – May 18, 2020. But because Cocina Del Carmen debuted near the start of the pandemic, the business experienced some bumps early on. “We had spent a lot of time and money designing and building this beautiful restaurant with such charm and ambiance, and at that point in the pandemic, we could only offer takeout because of the restrictions,” she said. “I had no choice but to keep going.”
Colon pushed through the tough times and while there have been some struggles in the past three years, Cocina Del Carmen has thrived.
To help support its continued success, the California Restaurant Foundation recently named Cocina Del Carmen as one of 18 restaurants in San Diego Gas & Electric’s coverage area to be awarded a $5,000 grant as part of California Restaurant Foundation’s Restaurants Care Resilience Fund. The Sacramento-based CRF is a nonprofit that since 1981 has promoted the health and prosperity of the food service industry.
The money was part of a $2.1 million fund for 184 independently owned restaurants statewide that was financed by California’s energy companies, including SDG&E. To qualify, the restaurants needed to have five units or fewer, and less than $3 million in revenue.
Designed to invest in the long-term health of California’s independent restaurants, the $5,000 grants can be used for equipment and technology upgrades, unforeseen hardship, employee retention bonuses and training.
This year’s Resilience Fund grants were the largest to date in terms of overall funding. Seventy percent of this year’s grant winners identify as female and 78% identify as people of color.
Executive Director
California Restaurant Foundation
Alycia Harshfield, executive director of the CRF said that the Resilience Fund came along during the height of the pandemic when the utility companies were looking to assist small businesses.
“CRF and our friends at SoCalGas had conversations about doing more to help restaurants,” Harshfield said. “We were already providing grants to restaurant workers and through those talks, the Resilience Fund was born. SDG&E and PG&E stepped up immediately, allowing the fund to be statewide.”
In three years, the Resilience Fund has provided financial assistance to nearly 1,000 independent restaurants in the state. The CRF reports that California is home to more than 90,000 eating and drinking places that ring up more than $72 billion in sales and employ more than 1.6 million workers.
California Restaurant Foundation
FOUNDED: 1981
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Alycia Harshfield
HEADQUARTERS: Sacramento
BUSINESS: Nonprofit
REVENUE: $1.7 million
EMPLOYEES: 5
WEBSITE: calrestfoundation.org
CONTACT: 800-765-4842 or foundation@calrest.org
SOCIAL IMPACT: CRF’s Restaurants Care program provides one-time financial support to restaurant employees facing an unforeseen hardship by covering basic living expenses such as rent, food and utilities as someone works through a crisis.
NOTABLE: The CRF uses a combination of trainings, education, scholarships and relief grants to create a foundation for the restaurant community to thrive.
