By: Don Driggers
New restaurants opening in New York City are looking forward to busy times ahead as holidays bookings at newly opened hotspots are surging as some places are already fully booked!
One such establishment is The Brooklyn Chophouse, located off Times Square. The New York Post reports that “We are almost sold out for holiday party private bookings,” said Stratis Morfogen, of Brooklyn Chop House in Times Square, who signed the lease for the 680-seat eatery during the pandemic”.
Restaurant bookings have soared 34% compared with last year, but are still down by a third from 2019, according to data compiled for Side Dish by OpenTable, writes Jennifer Gould.
Andrew Rigie, executive director for the New York City Hospitality Alliance, described the feeling amongst restaurateurs, in a statement to The New York Post, as “cautious optimism.”
“People booked holiday parties last November and that got restaurants excited. But then came omicron,” Rigie said. “We are in a different place than we were this time last year. …. But there are still labor shortage problems and inflation to deal with, along with uncertainty about the city’s outdoor open dining program. Many older restaurants are struggling to survive as new restaurants open, and many that depend on a daily mix of office workers and tourists are also still fighting for survival, Rigie added.”
“We are big believers in New York,” said AJ Bontempo, whose new place replaces Vandal, which closed during COVID. “The energy and vibrancy came back in a huge way, which will only attract more people back to the city. Since New York was impacted in a huge way during the pandemic, we believe its rebound will be equally large.”
For anyone who is looking for a quick bite, Jollibee has opened a new flagship location in Times Square. Located at 1500 Broadway between West 43rd and 44th Streets, the 7,000-square-foot space introduces the brand to mainstream American customers with an exclusive menu. New Yorkers will get the chance to try new items like hamburgers in addition to the beloved fried chicken and spaghetti.
“Times Square is an iconic place here in New York and in the world. It’s described as the crossroad of the world for a reason, so it’s a milestone for us. We aspired to be one of the top five restaurants in the world and this is a milestone in that journey,” Luis Velasco, the senior vice president of marketing at Jollibee Group, said in an exclusive statement to NextShark.
Outside of NYC, the restaurant industry in general in seeing a slow turnaround, after a long struggle after the draconian covid lockdowns, followed by “vaccine mandates” which have vanished.
Nation’s restaurant News reported:
Restaurant same-store sales growth was +5.3% for August — the strongest same-store sales growth since March and a significant increase of 4.6 percentage points over July 2022’s growth rate. Black Box Intelligence has been reporting a consistent decline in same-store sales growth, culminating in July with sales only growing by +0.7% — the lowest in over a year. To further put this month’s rebound into context, March 2022 posted stronger year-over-year sales and traffic growth numbers because the industry was still lapping over months that were impacted by the pandemic.
Same-store traffic growth for the restaurant industry was -1.9% in August. Although this represents a strong 3.2 percentage point rebound from July’s numbers, the sobering fact remains that it is the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in guest count. This month’s strong sales numbers and weak guest counts demonstrate exactly what happens when larger check growth (due to large price increases that passed onto consumers) is the primary reason for higher sales.
