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Has the local restaurant scene recovered from the lockdowns? I live in a smaller city and we have recovered some but it's nothing like it was. I heard it was pa

Has the local restaurant scene recovered from the lockdowns? I live in a smaller city and we have recovered some but it's nothing like it was. I heard it was particularly rough in NYC.

crmd 3y ago
In my experience, the more "corporate" restaurant groups are growing but the less well capitalized small businesses are in a world of hurt trying to balance the books with the leftovers after the rise in physical rent and advertising/platform company costs.
- Consultant32452 3y ago
  Now that you have written it, this models my experience too. Thanks for sharing.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > the more "corporate" restaurant groups are growing but the less well capitalized small businesses are in a world of hurt Within the <$50/diner category, yes. It seems this is where the new Applebees/Ruby Tuesdays are forming. Above that, there is an explosion of creativity in the fine and pseudufine dining categories.
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    I’m not sure that’s true. Only change I saw was a growth of fine dining Korean food in nyc
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > only change I saw was a growth of fine dining Korean food I can count half a dozen on my block in Flatiron alone. The only Korean fine-dining place to have opened near me is Nōksu, and I'm a few blocks from Koreatown.
  - crmd 3y ago
    Here in the city, it's not just the Applebees/Ruby Tuesdays who are growing; there's another emerging level of corporate food service. For example, a friend of mine is a data scientist who reports up into the CFO of a company that owns around 10 restaurants in New York, California, and Las Vegas. The flagship of the brand is a Michelin-starred celebrity chef. His entire job is presenting to executives the profitability impact of experiments in changing the formulation of espresso martinis and leek soup. He says that the company is entirely, quantitatively, incrementally profit driven and "joyless, from the executive team down to the dishwashers". It honestly sounds to me like the most miserable, furthest possible thing from the romantic old new york storytelling of Anthony Bordain that could still be legally called restauranteuring.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - bondarchuk 3y ago
      How would you even assess the profitability of a small recipe change? You'd only notice by the time a customer comes back and there are so many variables (and time) going into that I can't imagine you could really get some signal out of your a/b-test of a few drops of chili oil in the soup.
      - dannyw 3y ago
        If you have 10 restaurants you could do A/B tests. This is massively prevalent for food science and prepackaged goods (through panels and such; usually not to the end customer). Seems like restaurants are catching up.
        JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        I've also seen people test two ingredients, one cheap and one not. If their sample can't tell the difference, it flies. The problem is, we're each sensitive to different things. So while I may not notice the difference between a pricey and mid-range whisky, I will notice when you sub out the Chartreuse. Meanwhile, my neighbor will likely be the opposite. Rinse and repeat this process and you get the beige this process predictably produces.
standardUser 3y ago
There are still more amazing places to eat in NYC than you could comfortably visit in a lifetime. I can't even keep up with the new places that open in my own neighborhood.
ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
I live in the NYC suburbs. COVID killed a number of restaurants, but some, thrived. A couple of local sit-down restaurants switched to take-out only, fired all their waitstaff, and probably got a lot of financial assistance. They made out well. A couple, never went back to in-house dining. They are still take-out only. Doordash became huge around here (Ubereats, too). Pretty much every restaurant does them. The prices have gone way up, for many of these places. A few places have doubled their prices, in just a few months. Not sure of all the causes, or the long-term effects, but I am not seeing too many "Help Wanted" signs.

Has the local restaurant scene recovered from the lockdowns? I live in a smaller city and we have recovered some but it's nothing like it was. I heard it was particularly rough in NYC.

crmd 3y ago

In my experience, the more "corporate" restaurant groups are growing but the less well capitalized small businesses are in a world of hurt trying to balance the books with the leftovers after the rise in physical rent and advertising/platform company costs.

Consultant32452 3y ago
Now that you have written it, this models my experience too. Thanks for sharing.
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> the more "corporate" restaurant groups are growing but the less well capitalized small businesses are in a world of hurt Within the <$50/diner category, yes. It seems this is where the new Applebees/Ruby Tuesdays are forming. Above that, there is an explosion of creativity in the fine and pseudufine dining categories.
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  I’m not sure that’s true. Only change I saw was a growth of fine dining Korean food in nyc
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > only change I saw was a growth of fine dining Korean food I can count half a dozen on my block in Flatiron alone. The only Korean fine-dining place to have opened near me is Nōksu, and I'm a few blocks from Koreatown.
- crmd 3y ago
  Here in the city, it's not just the Applebees/Ruby Tuesdays who are growing; there's another emerging level of corporate food service. For example, a friend of mine is a data scientist who reports up into the CFO of a company that owns around 10 restaurants in New York, California, and Las Vegas. The flagship of the brand is a Michelin-starred celebrity chef. His entire job is presenting to executives the profitability impact of experiments in changing the formulation of espresso martinis and leek soup. He says that the company is entirely, quantitatively, incrementally profit driven and "joyless, from the executive team down to the dishwashers". It honestly sounds to me like the most miserable, furthest possible thing from the romantic old new york storytelling of Anthony Bordain that could still be legally called restauranteuring.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - bondarchuk 3y ago
    How would you even assess the profitability of a small recipe change? You'd only notice by the time a customer comes back and there are so many variables (and time) going into that I can't imagine you could really get some signal out of your a/b-test of a few drops of chili oil in the soup.
    - dannyw 3y ago
      If you have 10 restaurants you could do A/B tests. This is massively prevalent for food science and prepackaged goods (through panels and such; usually not to the end customer). Seems like restaurants are catching up.
      - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        I've also seen people test two ingredients, one cheap and one not. If their sample can't tell the difference, it flies. The problem is, we're each sensitive to different things. So while I may not notice the difference between a pricey and mid-range whisky, I will notice when you sub out the Chartreuse. Meanwhile, my neighbor will likely be the opposite. Rinse and repeat this process and you get the beige this process predictably produces.

standardUser 3y ago

There are still more amazing places to eat in NYC than you could comfortably visit in a lifetime. I can't even keep up with the new places that open in my own neighborhood.

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago

I live in the NYC suburbs. COVID killed a number of restaurants, but some, thrived. A couple of local sit-down restaurants switched to take-out only, fired all their waitstaff, and probably got a lot of financial assistance. They made out well. A couple, never went back to in-house dining. They are still take-out only. Doordash became huge around here (Ubereats, too). Pretty much every restaurant does them. The prices have gone way up, for many of these places. A few places have doubled their prices, in just a few months. Not sure of all the causes, or the long-term effects, but I am not seeing too many "Help Wanted" signs.