Can Neighborhood Restaurants Save The Restaurant Industry In New York?

On an early August night in the downtown New York neighborhood of Tribeca, the tables spread out on the sidewalk and the street are packed with locals, as bustling as can be while adhering to the requisite six feet apart. Looking at this scene at Bubby’s, an American comfort food neighborhood favorite that opened in 1990 and is so successful that it spawned another location near the High Line and several in Japan, you wouldn’t know that overall the city’s restaurant scene is in freefall. But signs of life and recovery may be in the residential neighborhoods and restaurants like this.

The city’s restaurants, as has been widely reported, were one of the first casualties when the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York with full force in March, closing restaurant dining rooms citywide affecting a workforce of 300,000. Some restaurants transitioned to takeout and delivery including some of the biggest names in town that had never included that service before. Others, estimated between 1,000 and 1,300, closed permanently while 10,000 moved to outdoor dining when it was allowed as part of the Phase 2 reopening in June. Even with consistently low virus infection numbers now, though, indoor dining isn’t on the horizon anytime soon in the city due to the threat of reinfection in crowded indoor spaces, a development that has outraged local restaurateurs. As Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance explained in a statement to the news site Brinkwire: “Our industry’s survival over the next several months depends on government immediately developing and implementing a plan that allows restaurants in New York City to safely reopen indoors like our counterparts everywhere else in the state.” One course of action the organization is considering is to sue.

Ron Silver, the chef/owner of Bubby’s which started as a pop up selling the pies that he baked (still a trademark of the restaurant along with the various pancakes at brunch) doesn’t agree even though his business  “on a good week” is 50% of what it was a year ago with 30% of the tables. “Eating indoors right now does not seem safe and I feel it is civilly irresponsible to public health to push to open,” he says.” I hope the city and landlords will give their full support to the restaurant industry in other ways and think we have to find additional solutions that will allow us to rebuild. We need the Mayor, Governor, City Council and landlords to really work with us and provide us with necessary financial safeguards and consideration to fully recover.”

Silver spent the time during the shutdown until the restaurants reopened for takeout and delivery in May experimenting like so many others in quarantine with sourdough baking; his efforts with a century old sourdough starter resulted in new sourdough breads and croissants along with bagels, cardamom buns, glazed donuts and blueberry scones and muffins available for sale in the mornings. Finally acquiring the use of a smoker previously banned by the city is also now allowing him to put more barbecue such as excellent ribs and pulled pork sandwiches on the menu from Thursday-Sunday.

He’s also determined to keep outdoor dining going with heaters even during the winter with the exception of the days of inclement weather along with takeout/ delivery. That may test the weather hardiness of New Yorkers but Silver thinks it’s not just important for his business but also for the city. “New York is just getting started,” he says. “Neighborhood places anchor these neighborhoods and help to add a sense of normalcy to living there. I think New York City can see a whole new level of engagement and outdoor life even after we can open inside. The additional dining space will also add to the city’s shortfalls by generating sales tax revenue.” The result: “New York,” he says, “will come back better than ever. “

Despite the fact that the city exceeds and sustains the metrics that have allowed restaurants throughout the rest of the state to reopen, government leaders have still yet to provide any guidance on when small business owners, workers and customers can expect indoor dining to return,’ said