NYC Restaurateurs Face A Long Road In Rebounding, Reopening

NEW YORK CITY — As restaurant owners across the city continue to cope with the realities of attempting to operate through the global coronavirus pandemic, a new study conducted by a not-for-profit trade organization shows that that many restaurateurs are struggling to pay their rent while others fear they may eventually have to close for good.

The NYC Hospitality Alliance surveyed 483 restaurants, bars, clubs and event venues across the city and discovered that 87.1 percent of the businesses either did not pay their rent in May or were only able to afford a partial payment. In addition, 61 percent of respondents indicated that they cannot continue to operate at an occupancy less than 70 percent at a time when restaurants are relying only on curbside pickup or delivery.

This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio indicated that he doesn’t anticipate a ban on non-essential businesses reopening and large gatherings ending before the end of June, which means that the struggles restaurant and bar owners have been dealing with for the past two months could last well into the summer.

With Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlining a timeline that would require a great deal of progress to be made before restaurants in the city could fully reopen, Melissa Fleischut, the president and CEO of the New York Restaurant Association said Friday that owners and operators face a long road ahead to get back to where they can return to operating fully. Cuomo’s plan requires meeting seven different health criteria before reopening can begin to be realized and according to Fleischut, New York City has only met four thus far.

Meanwhile, restaurateurs are left to struggle.

“It’s heartbreaking to see people who have literally spent everything they have and put it into their restaurant and who have dedicated years of their lives making this business their livelihood and watch it just disappear in front of their eyes,” Fleischut told Patch on Friday. “It’s really hard.

“It’s like they have to reopen their restaurant from scratch all over again.”

While the study showed that 43.4 percent of respondents expect to fully reopen, more than half (53 percent) admitted they’re not certain what their future holds while 3.6 of owners expect they will have to close permanently. The report comes at a time when many of the restaurants are providing meals to doctors, nurses and other frontline workers as well as needy families or that have established Go Fund Me campaigns to provide added money for out-of-work employees.

Despite the New York City Council placing a cap of 20 percent on the commission that third-party delivery services like GrubHub and Uber Eats can charge restaurants, business owners are dealing with ongoing staffing issues while they operate without having their dining rooms open.

According to the survey, just more than half (50.3 percent) of the respondents indicated they did not receive a Payroll Protection Plan loan during the first round of funding. Of the 42.1 percent who did receive a loan, restaurant and bar owners indicated they are not sure they will use the funds because they may not be able to rehire the required number of employees back by the end of June, which PPP loan guidelines stipulate in order for loans to be forgiven. The remaining 7.5 percent of respondents said they have started – or will be starting soon – to rehire employees to meet the deadline for loan forgiveness.

Even when restaurants can begin to reopen, the way owners and operators run their business will look much differently than before the pandemic set in. There will be social distancing guidelines to adhere to, face-coverings that will need to be worn, which Fleischut will drastically alter what operating a restaurant in the city looks like in what is already a tough row to hoe.

Still, she remains optimistic moving forward.

“(Restaurateurs) are an incredibly resilient group of people,” Fleischut said. “That phrase, ‘If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere’ isn’t just hype. …It’s a tenacious group of people who are already starting to think how they can run their business, but unfortunately, we’re also going to see a large number of restaurants close and that’s heartbreaking. But I think that’s a reality we’re going to face.”