Resources for businesses fully reopening this summer

After more than a year of pandemic pivots and safety precautions, small businesses across the country can finally open their doors. Now is the time to reunite with regulars, raise your profile, and build more excitement for your business. At the same time, it’s crucial to stay tuned into the best ways to support your staff and customers in this period of transition. 

We’ve compiled some of the best resources we’ve found for businesses as you begin reopening fully. Be sure to also keep your website and Yelp Page up to date for your customers as you adapt and change your operations.

General reopening resources
Finance and legal
Marketing and communication
Safety and sanitation
Free technology and tools
Resources for restaurants and bars

Resources for all businesses

General reopening resources

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has workplace guidance and strategies for businesses, including managing workplace fatigue, disinfecting, and reopening buildings:
  • General business FAQ
  • General guidance on workplaces reopening
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released: Ready to Reopen: A Playbook for Your Small Business; they’re also constantly updating the digital resource center with state-specific information on reopening dates, mask rules, and vaccine eligibility

Finance and legal

• The Small Business Association (SBA) is still offering some COVID-19 relief options:
  • COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan
  • SBA debt relief (for existing borrowers) 
  • Shuttered Venue Operators Grant 
• Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and unemployment benefits have been extended through September 6, 2021 for people already receiving unemployment benefits
• The editors at Fundera compiled a list of 100+ grants available for small businesses 
• Fundbox’s COVID-19 resources include a state-by-state list of support programs for small businesses
• Free legal documents and resources are available for download in Rocket Lawyer’s hub for business owners—there’s even an “ask a lawyer” chat box for your COVID-19 legal questions
• This growing list of private funding options from the SBA aims to help small businesses. Other private grant and funding options include:
  • SoGal Black Founder Startup Grant; applications are rolling 
  • The Lesbian Bar Project; reopening donation pool for the month of June

Marketing and communication

• Update these seven places on your Yelp Business Page to communicate important information, help you complete your profile, and appear more frequently in searches
• New Normal? The Most Effective Ways to Communicate Change To Your Employees from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Maintaining your online presence is crucial—read about email marketing, virtual offerings, and other survival strategies from the pandemic that are here for the long haul

Safety and sanitation

• The CDC has an updated guidance on cleaning and disinfecting your facility 
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also updated its guidance on workplace safety to focus on protections for at-risk or unvaccinated workers and encourage vaccination 
• It’s always important to communicate with your customers about what you’re doing to keep them safe
• Even after the pandemic is long gone, it’s important to properly clean and disinfect your business

Free technology tools and services

• To help communicate your operations, create easy-to-use graphics and templates for your business with Canva or check out their many guides to design and marketing trends—great to use on your website and social media pages
• Venmo now allows all small businesses to sign up for a business profile to accept payments for goods and services at a rate of 1.9% + $0.10 per transaction
• Increase your online presence with Yelp’s free tools, including specialities, check-in offers, photo captions, special hours, amenities, and more (more here for restaurants and home services)

Resources for restaurants and bars

• Grubhub and the Restaurant Strong Fund will provide $5,000 grants to help eligible independent restaurants reopen 
• Learn how you can hone your marketing strategy in this new frontier with Restaurant Marketing School 
• Oyster Sunday is offering free consultations for independent restaurants 
• The National Restaurant Association (NRA) has a list of resources specifically for food businesses and it continues to update its reopening guide, with information on cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting, personal hygiene, mask use, health monitoring, social distancing for people and spaces, ventilation, what to do if an employee tests positive, and encouraging employees to get vaccines
  • New to this update: OSHA and CDC guidelines and training employees in COVID-19 mitigation
• The NRA has also created several fact-sheets on food safety
• As you transition into a fully open environment, keep in mind these top five pandemic lessons learned from successful entrepreneurs

If you have questions or if there is anything we can do to help, get in touch by logging into your Yelp for Business account for Yelp contact details. Our customer success and account teams are fully staffed and ready to assist.

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