Categories: News

Customers don’t want to leave restaurants. Fewer hours and tables leave owners to impose time constraints.

The latest problem New York City restaurants are facing: Restaurants in the city can open at 50 percent capacity, and some customers don’t want to leave as reunion dinners and drinks drag on. Now, some owners and managers are experiencing the unexpected challenge of slower turnover times. “People used to be busy. Now they like to hang out,” said Simon Kim, owner of Cote, the Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse. The rhythms of service have been thrown off: There’s no longer an after-work rush as many haven’t returned to offices, and some customers are even asking for dinner reservations as early as 4 p.m., Grub Street reports. Since all restaurants must close by 11 p.m., guests are concentrated into fewer hours and tables. Some restaurateurs feel compelled to impose time limits and turn more tables, but others say they’re just glad for the business (and extended dinners should mean bigger tips, right?).

Related Post
The Counter and The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter and The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

7 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

3 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

3 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

3 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

3 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago