CARES Act Successes – Raptor Canyon, Cafè 54 See Benefits

Facing an unchecked pandemic, state and local governments enacted curfews and lockdowns to stem the growing tide of illness when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020. As a result, restaurants were some of the hardest hit businesses.

“We needed anything and everything we could get,” said Jeffrey Grobe, Executive Director of Coyote Task Force, a nonprofit organization that operates Café 54, 54 E. Pennington Street.

At the time, Grobe said, the restaurant had experienced a nearly 75 percent drop in business during the pandemic lockdowns and later occupancy restrictions.

With the help of the Downtown Tucson Partnership and the city of Tucson, Pima County was able provide funding assistance to many restaurants to expand existing or create new outdoor dining spaces.

The Downtown Outdoor Café Grant Program was established to help businesses build, expand, or enhance their outdoor dining areas during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when state and local health regulations restricted capacities at food service establishments to help mitigate the spread of the disease. Restaurants also were permitted to use adjacent buildings such as unoccupied neighboring retail spots for dining space with owner or landlord approval.

Café 54 partnered with two other restaurants downtown, Raptor Canyon Café, 75 E. Pennington Street, and Urban Fresh, 73 E. Pennington Street, to use federally available funding to create a shared outdoor dining space in front of their restaurants.

“They are the greatest neighbors in the world,” said Dennis Calello, owner of Raptor Canyon Café. He said the three restaurants pooled their resources to build enclosures for the shared outdoor dining space and purchase tables and chairs.

Qualifying businesses received up to $5,000 to help pay the costs of installation for the expanded dining spaces.

“At that time, it was extremely helpful,” Calello said of the funding provided to construct outdoor dining.

The outdoor dining space Café 54, Raptor Canyon Café, Urban Fresh built took a little time to catch on, Grobe said, likely owing to its opening during the height of the summer in 2020. But since then, the space is frequently full to capacity with lunchtime diners.

“It’s a great space to go and have lunch,” Grobe said. “People see it when they drive by or walk down the street and seem more willing to come in.”

Grobe said the assistance to build the outdoor space and expand dining capacities was especially helpful to Café 54, whose mission goes beyond food service. The restaurant and thrift shop next door are operated by Coyote Task Force, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping adults with serious mental illnesses have quality employment and job training.

“It’s been beneficial for everyone,” he said of the assistance programs designed to aid local businesses.

This outdoor space and the many others that popped up as result of regulatory changes and funding assistance have added a new character to the downtown Tucson restaurant scene, bringing a more urban, big city feel to the urban core.

Calello said he’s been pleased with how well the food court, as he calls it, has caught on.

“For a lot of people, they just want to sit outside and eat,” he said. “The Tucson weather is great.”