New York eateries yet to emerge from pandemic woes

New York City's restaurant industry continues to face "widespread and overwhelming hardship" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and will have an uphill battle to fully recover, according to research by the National Restaurant Association and New York State Restaurant Association.

Restaurants are one of the city's most important industries, worth over $18.5 billion. But a recent survey by NYSRA found that 41 percent of New York operators said business conditions for their restaurants are worse now than they were three months ago.

Only 20 percent of the 267 restaurant operators polled between July 14 and Aug 5 reported that business conditions had improved during the last three months.

Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the NYSRA, told China Daily: "I would say that the main struggle (for restaurants) is the increased cost of everything that they're facing right now."

At least 39 percent of New York restaurant operators surveyed said business conditions will never return to normal, and 42 percent think it will take more than a year.

Restaurateur Luca Di Pietro used to have five locations for his Italian restaurant and wine bar Tarallucci e Vino in the city. He recently had to close one.

He is also co-founder of nonprofit Feed the Frontlines NYC that spearheaded an initiative to deliver hundreds of thousands of meals to frontline workers, nurses and doctors at the height of the pandemic.

"In all of our locations, we had about 115 staff. Now, we have about 88 or so," Di Pietro said.

Data from the office of the New York State Comptroller in January found that restaurants now employ 30 percent fewer workers than in 2019.

Di Pietro said that paying staff higher wages, inflation, food costs and a 30-40 percent increase in utility bill costs are also affecting profitability.

"I can tell you, this summer, most of my businesses were in the red," he told China Daily.