By: Don Driggers
The pandemic is quickly closing in on the end of its third year but, restaurants in New York City have not fully bounced back and are still suffering. They don’t have the business they need to stay open, nor do they have the trained staff to maintain the hours of yesterday.
“People just aren’t out as much, and the late-night demand isn’t always there because of the crime factor. I don’t even feel safe walking around at 2 a.m. on Sunday nights. Do you? It’s like a ‘Matrix’ experience,” says nightlife baron king Richie Romero in an exclusive statement to The New York Post. “People have adapted to being at home more after COVID. They are in their offices two to three days a week instead of five, and it’s hard to staff places. There is less demand. People aren’t commuting as much. They’re staying home,” Romero said.
Recently, celebrity-chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten made a splash opening six restaurants and six fast-casual spots inside the landmarked Tin Building at the South Street Seaport. But the building and its restaurants are only open four days a week, from noon until 9 pm according to Jennifer Gould of The New York Post.
Gould also reports that even with the new limited hours, there are advertisements online seeking employees to fill most positions, such as “cooks, prep cooks, chef de partie, garde manger, butchers, bakers, pastry cooks, cake decorators and sous chefs.”
The luxury restaurants newly opened are not the only establishments facing difficulties. Legendary cocktail artist Albert Trummer recently opened a highly stylized bar and lounge called DOM, for Domicile, in the landmarked United Charities Building below Hawksmoor, a British steakhouse, at 287 Park Avenue South. It is open only three days a week, Thursday through Saturday, because of staffing issues, and is also available for private events, said Trummer, who gained fame founding celeb hot spot Apotheke in Chinatown “I lost many of my staff during the pandemic, and it’s hard to find people who are highly skilled and sophisticated, and also willing to work hospitality’s long hours,” Trummer said to The New York Post.
Business owners all over New York City have expressed hope that the coming holiday season will bring tourist traffic and highly profitable parties and events. But as business increases, they might not have the full staff required. Jennifer Gould of The New York Post writes, The tables have turned at New York City restaurants since the layoffs and furloughs of the COVID lockdowns — with bosses giving in to demands from prospective staffers that were previously unheard of.
Waitstaff and kitchen help at restaurants citywide are now asking for holidays and weekends off — a demand that many proprietors would have laughed off as absurd before the pandemic — even as they hold out for higher pay and benefits, restaurant owners told Side Dish.
“They can say they are available just a few days a week, or that they won’t work weekends or New Year’s Eve — something I would have been fired for when I started in this industry,” said Sean Christie, CEO of Carver Road Hospitality. “But if they’re good, we make concessions because we know there’s other places they’ll go if we don’t hire them.”