Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Robert Guarino, Partner at Chef Driven Group, on NYC's Outdoor Dining Program
0:36:51
·
3 min
Robert Guarino, a partner in Chef Driven Group, testifies about the impact of changes to NYC's outdoor dining program on his restaurants, particularly Nitza in Hell's Kitchen. He emphasizes the importance of outdoor dining to their business model and expresses concern about the reduction in sidewalk seating capacity due to new clearance requirements.
- Guarino's group operates 16 restaurants in Manhattan, many with outdoor dining components
- New regulations have reduced Nitza's outdoor seating from 24 to 14 seats, a 40% decrease
- He argues that outdoor dining contributes to neighborhood safety, walkability, and livability
- Guarino urges consideration of both new roadway dining and existing sidewalk cafe programs
Robert Guarino
0:36:51
Good morning.
0:36:52
My name is Robert Guarino.
0:36:54
I'm a partner in New York City's Chef Driven Group.
0:36:57
I'm here today to talk about one of our restaurants, a restaurant called Nitza in Hell's Kitchen.
0:37:02
As a group we've operated we do operate 16 restaurants all in Manhattan.
0:37:08
Many of those have been in business over twenty years, some as long as thirty years.
0:37:13
Sidewalk Cafe has always been an integral part of our business model.
0:37:17
Almost each of those restaurants has an outdoor component.
0:37:20
We try to build restaurants that serve our neighborhoods and we see outdoor dining as an integral part of that.
0:37:27
Many of our restaurants are open breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we believe strongly in bringing business out to the street and the positive benefits that that has for the community in walkability, in livability, in safety.
0:37:41
So it's been a big part of what we do.
0:37:44
Over the years as we've analyzed commercial spaces before signing a lease, the first things we look at are is liquor license possible and is sidewalk cafe possible?
0:37:53
And if the answer to either one of those is no, we continue looking because it really is a vital part of our business model.
0:38:01
And I think with the new program right now and the new regulations, I think a lot of what's been lost is some of the very detrimental changes specifically to the sidewalk law.
0:38:13
So in Hell's Kitchen we have three restaurants in the Ground Floor of the Film Center Building between 40 Fourth Street and 40 Fifth Street.
0:38:20
That's that stretch of Ninth Avenue's only commercial building.
0:38:23
We have the corner of 40 Fourth, the corner of 40 Fifth, and then a little restaurant called Nitza in the middle of the block.
0:38:30
That restaurant has only 50 seats inside and always had 24 seats outside.
0:38:37
So by far, our busiest months of the year were April, May, June, July, and August as the restaurant grew in size by 50%.
0:38:46
So we were very surprised when as we started apply and we're not eligible for roadway in in any of these three restaurants because we're on the busy stretch of the avenue.
0:38:55
So we were you know, we assumed, okay, we'll go back to our existing, you know, permitted, approved sidewalk setup that we've operated for twenty, you know, for twenty fifteen years, and things will be fine.
0:39:09
We were shocked when we applied for NETSA to see that clearances had changed, and now we went from 24 seats to 14 seats.
0:39:18
That might not sound like much, but it's a 40% decrease in seats.
0:39:23
That's the difference between having one server outside or two servers outside.
0:39:28
Over the course of a busy day, lunch and dinner, that could be 50 people, less people that we serve.
0:39:35
So we're really surprised that the sidewalk program specifically did not take into consideration the original approved plans and basically changed clearances.
0:39:45
And in many cases, especially in Midtown, it has been very detrimental.
0:39:52
And so we take a lot of pride in having done business in Hell's Kitchen and Ninth Avenue for twenty plus years.
0:39:59
And we're happy that it's busy and thriving and people out there, we think, are doing business outside does a lot for the safety of the neighborhood and does a lot to bring tourists that far west and to also serve the neighbors and people who live there and people who work in the theater community.
0:40:15
And now making changes to the program I think is the exact opposite of what we were hoping would happen.
0:40:20
And I encourage everybody to spend the time thinking about Roadway, which is a new program, but not to forget Sidewalk, which has been operating for forty years across the city.