We believe that our communities thrive when we create equal access to opportunity for small business owners. Through the Main Street Strong Accelerator, we’ve worked to increase access to restaurant education to stabilize, adapt, and grow small businesses.

Together, DoorDash and Accion Opportunity Fund, along with other restaurant industry experts, constructed an eight-week program that will provide restaurant owners with an immersive curriculum designed to help grow their business, covering topics such as marketing, access to capital, managing cash flow and menu creation.

Curriculum

The Main Street Strong Accelerator is open to all restaurant owners at no cost. Restaurateurs can complete the courses at their own pace, with content and topics designed to address some of the core challenges they face when trying to grow and scale their business.

Course 1

Finding Your Niche and Defining Your Brand

Course 2

Build a Financial Roadmap to Access Capital

Course 3

All Things Legal

Course 4

Hiring & Employee Relations

Course 5

Creating the Right Menu

Course 6

Marketing Like a Pro

Course 7

Scale Your Business

Empowering Local Restaurants

Applications for the Main Street Strong Accelerator Boston Cohort are now closed.

Local to Boston? Looking for other ways to further your experience of the Accelerator Curriculum?

We’re seeking Boston restaurants owned by women, immigrants, and people of color for a new class of Main Street Strong Accelerator Local Cohort participants who are leaders in their communities, demonstrate a commitment to growing their business, and have a track record of giving back to their neighborhoods.

Participants will receive a $20,000 grant, one-on-one guidance and coaching, and the opportunity to connect with other local restaurant owners.

Eligibility for Main Street Strong Accelerator Boston Cohort

This cohort is open to all restaurant owners and operators who:

Operate three or fewer restaurant locations for two or more years

Employ 50 or fewer people across all locations

Operate in the Greater Boston Area

The inaugural class of Accelerator local cohorts participants represent a diverse cohort of restaurateurs and business owners.

In early 2021, 100 restaurateurs from five cities went through the eight-week curriculum guided by some of the industry’s most recognized entrepreneurs and chefs.

Previous participants were comprised of:

61%

women

47%

identify as immigrant or refugee

38%

identify as Black or African American

15%

identify as Latino, Latinx, or Hispanic

12%

identify as East Asian

9%

identify as South Asian

I am truly excited to be a part of the DoorDash Accelerator program in the coming weeks. There's not a concrete playbook for running your own restaurant and I am confident that this opportunity will provide additional education and resources to help set my restaurant up for long-term success. This investment of time will allow me to make an immediate impact on my business, my employees, and the community I serve.
- Terri Evans, Owner of Windy City Ribs & Whiskey

Owner of Windy City Ribs & Whiskey

Community is core to banh oui. and we are proud to have provided hundreds of meals to farmers each weekend during the pandemic. We’re incredibly grateful to have our efforts recognized by DoorDash after a tough year. As banh oui. continues to grow, assistance in revamping our business plan and connecting with like minded individuals will be invaluable to reaching our future goals.
- Casey Felton, Banh Oui, Los Angeles

Banh Oui, Los Angeles

Despite the challenges of COVID, we remain committed to service. It has been through harnessing the collective energy of the community, private foundations, government contracts and grants that we have been able to pivot, stay afloat and continue to serve our Atlanta community. We thank DoorDash and are really excited about the DoorDash grant and the Main Street Strong Accelerator program. We look forward to learning strategies to support us, help us sustain and grow during these difficult times.
- Waleed and Quiana Shamsid-Deen, Supreme Burger, Atlanta

Supreme Burger, Atlanta

In partnership with
Accion Opportunity Fund

Accion Opportunity Fund works to create an inclusive, healthy financial system that supports the nation’s small business owners by connecting entrepreneurs to affordable capital, educational resources, coaching, and networks. Through innovative partnerships and outreach strategies, Accion Opportunity Fund reaches underserved entrepreneurs — including entrepreneurs of color, low-income entrepreneurs, and women — who often lack access to the financial services they need to build and grow their businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do the Main Street Strong Accelerator Local Cohorts work?

Businesses and the people behind them are vital to the culture, spirit, and economic health of local communities, and the Main Street Strong Accelerator provides the capital, support, and marketing they need to grow. Participating businesses will have access to:

  • 8-week curriculum designed to stabilize, adapt, and grow your business for long-term success
  • 1:1 financial, legal, and other support from industry experts
  • $20,000 in grants to keep your restaurant open
  • Free merchandising and marketing benefits from DoorDash
How will you be judging applications?

The application is designed to glean a better understanding of the business’ long term goals and their involvement in their local communities. A rubric will be used to review and score each application. The rubric is based on the application questions and the program's overall objective to support the business owner's plan.

Is there another step after applications are submitted?

Yes, all selected applicants will then go through an interview with local partners and the Accelerator team before final selection for the cohort.

When will a local cohort be open in my city?

To date, we've hosted 5 local cohorts in the U.S. and are looking forward to expanding over time as part of DoorDash's commitment to supporting local economies. To stay up to date on our local cohorts, please visit news.doordash.com.

Are you giving preference to DoorDash and Caviar merchants?

No. Applications to the program are open to eligible restaurants regardless of whether they are current DoorDash or Caviar partners.

When will participants receive the grant funds?

Participants will receive $10,000 at the beginning of the program, and $10,000 at the conclusion. The goal of the Accelerator program is to help entrepreneurs not only learn hard skills necessary for adapting to challenges of running a small business, but to create very unique tailored business plans to apply to their restaurants for the future.

Will there be language support for non-English speakers during the program?

Our online accelerator curriculum is available in Spanish. If you have additional access needs to participate in the Accelerator, please email accelerator@doordash.com. While the format of the Accelerator local cohorts are best suited for proficient English speakers, we’re committed to supporting language access and look forward to providing resources that address multilingual needs.