American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced the 2024 recipients of the Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant program. 50 small restaurants in the U.S. will receive a $50,000 grant each to help them upgrade, renovate, and grow their businesses.
MacAlpine’s Diner and Soda Fountain in Phoenix will be receiving $50,000 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They have recently reopened after closing down and conducting a Go Fund Me account to manage their reopening. The building was built originally in 1929 and became MacAlpine’s in 1938 when Fred “Mac” MacAlpine bought the pharmacy and soda fountain.
The grant program significantly expanded its reach this year, doubling the number of grantees, including in 13 new states, and increasing the total grant funding to $2.5 million, up from $1 million in prior years.
In its fourth year, the program now has reached 125 historic small restaurants in every U.S. state, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. American Express launched the Backing Historic Small Restaurants program in 2021 in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation to support historic and culturally significant restaurants during the pandemic. The program has since expanded in its scale and financial support to continue helping independently owned small restaurants serve their local communities.
In addition to financial support, Resy, American Express’s restaurant reservation platform, will offer each grantee a year of complimentary access to Resy OS restaurant management software, to help streamline their costs and boost operations.
“Small restaurants are vital to our communities, and their impact perseveres, as they continue to innovate and make their neighborhoods more vibrant and connected,” said Madge Thomas, Head of Corporate Sustainability at American Express. “This year’s grantees represent the rich traditions and iconic stories of communities across the U.S. I’m so proud that we’re able to help them grow and continue to build their legacy.”
“Over the course of four years, our partnership with American Express has supported more than one hundred small, independent restaurants across the country, each with a distinctive history, representing a wide array of cuisines,” said Carol Quillen, CEO of the National Trust. “Equally important is what these restaurants share. They are beloved gathering places in their neighborhoods. In many cases, they have been run for generations by the same family. Empowering small businesses that hold decades of stories is one powerful way that preservation strengthens local economies as it serves local communities.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which administers the Backing Historic Small Restaurants grant program, selected this year’s grantees from a group of restaurants that operate in historic buildings or neighborhoods and provide cultural significance to their communities through their history, cuisine, and locations. Many of the 2024 grant recipients include establishments that are family owned or have been operating for generations.
See the full list and learn more about this year’s Backing Historic Small Restaurants grantees, here.
