Red tape blocks NYC restaurants from offering…
New York City has let outside eating — a lifeline to restaurants during the pandemic and since — stagnate, issuing less than a fifth as many permits this spring as it did during the peak of this system.
Six weeks into the 2026 outside eating season, only 2,100 Big Apple eateries have permits — down from roughly 2,500 last 12 months and about 13,000 during COVID instances, Side Dish has discovered.
Around 1,000 restaurants had been still ready for permits as of last 12 months, according to the town Department of Transportation, which declined to share how many are still in limbo. Some have been ready over a 12 months, sources said.
Helen Zhang, co-owner of Ziggy’s Roman Cafe in Dumbo, is looking for a allow for outside eating. Ziggy’s Roman Cafe / Instagram
New Yorkers love eating al fresco, which supplies restaurants the chance to increase their footprint — and income.
But permits have develop into “too expensive and bureaucratic,” Andrew Rigie, government director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, told Side Dish.
“We always knew fewer restaurants would have outdoor dining once the pandemic ended, but no one thought that the numbers would plummet so significantly,” he said.
Last 12 months, metropolis lawmakers revamped the COVID-era outside eating coverage, limiting tables on roadways to hotter months and requiring a host of paperwork for restaurants to get permission.
“When the city made roadway cafes seasonal, many restaurants didn’t even apply. It’s too expensive to build, take down, store and pay again to set up in the spring and the city is requiring all fees paid upfront in one lump sum,” Rigie said.
There’s also “lots of confusion” and crimson tape, he famous.
Permits have develop into “too expensive and bureaucratic,” Andrew Rigie, government director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, told Side Dish. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Bureaucratic nightmare
Case in level: a bureaucratic nightmare Helen Zhang, co-owner of Ziggy’s Roman Cafe in Dumbo, not too long ago shared on Instagram.
The restaurateur confirmed her followers her odyssey to strive to get face time with a DOT employee “107 days” after making use of for a allow.
“Every nice day that it’s outside, it’s a lot of lost revenue for us,” she recorded herself telling a faceless bureaucrat, who replied: “I can’t promise anything right now.”
As of Wednesday, she still hadn’t had any luck.
“We have spent thousands on lawyers and expeditors and so much of our time on all this stuff,” she told Side Dish. “We really need the outdoor seating for our business model to work.”
“We have spent thousands on lawyers and expeditors and so much of our time on all this stuff,” Zhang told Side Dish. Ziggyâs Roman Cafe / Instagram
Steep charges
Permit purposes for either roadway eating, which lasts April to November, or sidewalk eating, attainable year-round, value $2,100 a pop — plus a security deposit of $1,500 to $2,500. With legal charges, funds to the town for use of public space that are based on sq. footage, and prices of offering notices for local group board hearings, the price of an software can run up to tens of 1000’s of {dollars}, according to Rigie.
“People want to dine al fresco, and restaurants want to put people to work and generate revenue,” he said, including that smaller restaurants in the outer boroughs with less access to money are those dropping out the most.
He called on Mayor Mamdani’s administration to take motion, suggesting it and the City Council “could allow restaurants to start operating their outdoor dining while the city finishes up their backend bureaucratic steps.”
Rigie called Mayor Mamdani’s administration to take motion, suggesting it and the City Council “could allow restaurants to start operating their outdoor dining while the city finishes up their backend bureaucratic steps.” Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
Mamdani’s workplace didn’t immediately reply a request for remark.
A DOT spokesperson blamed “the law,” not forms, and contended “there really isn’t a backlog of applications.”
“The law simply requires a long, multi-step approval process — review at DOT, community boards, elected officials, the comptroller, architectural renderings, public hearings” and more, the flack famous.
“A restaurant can run into hang-ups at any one of these stages,” the spokesperson said, including that DOT has called on the Council to reform the law.
Permit purposes for either roadway eating, which lasts April to November, or sidewalk eating, attainable year-round, value $2,100 a pop – plus a security deposit of $1,500 to $2,500. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Flawed system
“The whole system that the city set up for this process was not really thought out very well,” said restaurant lawyer Joseph Levey, who reps 100 institutions that have been ready, some for over a 12 months, to get their outside eating permits.
“People started applying with the expectation that they’d be open for the season — last year,” the attorney told The Post.
“People wrote checks, and they were cashed, but there is no timetable, which is incredibly frustrating,” he said. “People have no idea what to expect.”
Still, many restaurant homeowners are reluctant to go public.
“People are scared to speak out, afraid that their applications will be denied or fall into a black hole,” Levey said.
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen, proprietor of Diner24 NYC, says the allow course of was already troublesome, but under Mamdani’s “anti-business” regime, it has develop into even more so. Matthew McDermott
Restaurateur Stratis Morfogen says the allow course of was already troublesome, but under Mamdani’s “anti-business” regime, it has develop into even more so.
Morfogen, who owns Diner24 NYC, said he’s still ready for his allow after making use of in September —even though the town cashed his verify in January.
“It’s incompetence,” he fumed. “They are overwhelmed and understaffed. Mamdani is in over his head. He’s never run a small business or had a private sector job.”
Since the pandemic, the town has also had more “red tape and it’s more difficult to get to the finish line,” Morfogen added.
“Mamdani is in over his head,” Morfogen said. “He’s never run a small business or had a private sector job.” Getty Images
“[Mayor] Eric Adams promised to help small business, but he didn’t. I didn’t suppose it may get any worse, but it has.
“The problem with a guy like Mamdani is that he has no one around him to help small business … He has surrounded himself with anti-business socialists, and this is how you chase big business and small business out. He’s killing big business and small business. I’m afraid to see what the city will look like in three years,” Morfogen said.
All the crimson tape “can stretch the approval process to six or even nine months or more – far longer than many restaurants can reasonably wait,” a DOT spokesperson acknowledged.
Rigie and Morfogen said that’s no excuse, noting the State Liquor Authority grants non permanent licenses after restaurants have pending approval and saying DOT ought to do the same.
“It’s a disaster,” Rigie said. “People are at their wits’ end.”
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