Hell’s Kitchen Restaurants Grapple with Rising Costs and New Rules on Road to Permanent Outdoor Dining

Hell’s Kitchen restaurant and bar owners say they are committed to offering outdoor dining at their businesses, as the City releases an online directory of pre-approved dining structures. To some owners, al fresco dining, which began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, is still an essential lifeline for remaining profitable.

The Department of Transportation on Monday launched an outdoor dining ‘ online marketplace ’ with over 50 items ranging from tables and chairs to ready-made structures and installation services, all designed and manufactured by City-approved vendors.

“As we transition to a permanent outdoor dining program, Dining Out NYC, DOT is working to make it as seamless and as easy as possible for local businesses to participate in this program,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said, as AMNY reported . “Our new online Marketplace does just this by connecting restaurant owners to the resources they need to build beautiful, clean, and creative outdoor dining setups.”

The marketplace includes renderings of multiple structures, as well as examples of where they are already in-use across the five boroughs. Businesses aren’t required to use the DOT’s marketplace, but it serves as a guide to what the future of outdoor dining will look like.

New outdoor dining rules went into effect in March which allow for year-round sidewalk dining, while built structures are permitted on roadways between April and November. All seating structures must use ‘open-air’ frameworks without hard roofs. Tables and chairs must be easily movable, and all arrangements must be ADA compliant.

The owners of businesses that currently have dining structures must apply for the new Dining Out NYC program by August 3 to continue operating this summer, and will be required to comply with the City’s new rules 30 days after their application is approved by the DOT, or by November 1 at the latest.

Sean Hayden, the owner of two 9th Avenue restaurants with outdoor seating — Jasper’s and Alfie’s — said he plans to keep his current dining structures in place for as long as possible, and will obtain new ones later on. He hopes he can purchase a structure from a company that can store it during the winter since he lacks storage space, and is hoping the new rules will be enforced fairly and consistently by inspectors.

One thing’s for sure, said Hayden, his businesses need outdoor dining to survive.

“Business is so tight at the moment that if I don’t have outdoor seating I can’t see it [being] viable,” he told W42ST. “Our profit is [from] the 22 weeks of outdoor seating. That’s our whole profit for the year; the rest of the year you’re pulling at straws.”

Skyrocketing operating prices and a decrease in customers have made it harder to stay open in the past couple of years, Hayden said. “My Con Ed bill at Alfie’s was $3,500 pre-pandemic, and it’s $6,500 a month now. My water and sewer bill was $29,000 a year, and now it’s $50,000 a year.”

Marni Halasa, a co-owner of The Purple Tongue Wine Bar , agreed that outdoor dining is essential to business, and stressed the need to speed up the licensing process, which the DOT says can take upwards of six months, and involves potentially paying thousands of dollars, not to mention the cost of a structure itself.

“There’s got to be a way to expedite the process,” Halasa said. “I look all around this city, and restaurants are still hurting and still closing — even when they appear busy. Restaurants still are not out of the woods after Covid. We need every opportunity to serve our communities and generate income — and we need the city’s help.”

With the new rules, Hell’s Kitchen will likely lose some of its most iconic outdoor dining arrangements such as the train car design outside of Dolly Varden.

“We will be sad to lose it as it has become quite popular, but it is not compliant with the rules so it will have to go,” co-owner Brian Connell told W42ST. “I think we can take it down in stages though; off with the roof and make it so as we can keep most of the structure in place at least until the winter when it will all have to go.”

While he still questions how the DOT’s program will be implemented, Hayden said he’s happy to see the City moving forward with outdoor dining at all.

“I do understand that [in the past] people took liberties and there were eyesores, you know, and it was attracting rats,” Hayden said. “It wasn’t done right from the start, but obviously nobody knew what was going on.”

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