Today, it is a major feat for a restaurant simply to stay open. There is no definitive count of how many restaurants have gone out of business, but the number is thought to be in the thousands.
At the height of the pandemic last spring, more than 200,000 restaurant workers were out of work, according to the state comptroller. Some have been rehired, but few are working the same number of hours. Restaurants are open for indoor dining, but at a 25 percent capacity limit.
By some estimates, the continuing devastation could eventually topple up to half of the city’s 24,000 restaurants.
The economics of operating a restaurant in New York were never favorable, but the pandemic exposed just how precarious the business was. Restaurants, even those far from Manhattan’s upscale precincts, can pay more than $100,000 a year in rent and tens of thousands on other bills, including insurance policies that have provided no assistance during the pandemic.
Many restaurants have blamed their landlords for not reducing their rent. But landlords say they are suffering, too, unable to pay their own bills because tenants cannot pay full rent.
Since the pandemic, Gertie’s landlord has cut its base rent by 50 percent, down to $5,000 a month, and offered to extend the discount, which included a separate increase in rent payments based on Gertie’s percentage of sales, for another 16 months. Nate Adler, who started Gertie with Mr. Biddelman, accepted the offer despite concerns that business will not substantially improve for months.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/01/nyregion/williamsburg-restaurant-reopening-brooklyn.html
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