We Can Be HEROES... JUST FOR ONE DAY You are the wind beneath our wings Speaker Pelosi. Thank you for getting the HEROES Act out there to get the ball rolling with more help for small businesses.  With your action, you will at least force the Republican naysayers to address...

It is the Middle Ground between Science and Superstitionthere is…..THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!! We thought we were in dire straits.  We feared that the lifeline that we needed to survive until things got back to full capacity was not going to happen.  We believed that we were being...

Question Du Jour w/ Answers Thank you all so much for the many submissions.  You will find many of them below.  Many good ideas were brought forth and you can expect the conversation to continue in upcoming newsletters. Today's Question was: How would you modernize the restaurant...

PARADISE CITY!!! Welcome to the jungle, Mnooch. You really thought that you were going to win any type of fight with Axl Rose?  You're only 57 years old so you must know who he is. Why would you fuck with him?  He's a hardcore rocker and all-around tough guy, lived a life...

MURDER HORNETS DESCEND ON D.C.!!!!! Apparently, they come from all over the country.  They are sharp-clawed, venomous and they have invaded the soft and honey rich environs of the hive housing the U.S. Senate. They are ripping the heads off our Mnain Mnan and SBA Chief Carranza and anyone else connected...

Restaurants In The Crosshairs! Did you know that the Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia is the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia? And did you know that Justice Scalia was a  wicked smart, staunchly conservative, hard-liner not to be trifled with?  I tell you...

1,2,3,4, PRESSURE! Dear HL Clients, We always kind of knew how the city government worked but, let's be honest, we never truly dug in to understand the intricacies because we had no need.  Now, with so much at stake, we are much more civic-minded and want to know every...

Dear HL Clients, Happy Friday!  As you may have picked up there is a theme to Friday's newsletter.  I turn it over to you, the readers, so you can broadcast to the industry what's on your mind. Today, I am starting to publish OpEds written...

It's a cruel, cruel summer... Did you get your PPP loan?  I hope you did.  It takes us off life support and provides a few months of easier breathing.  We can pay a little rent and hire back our employees for no show jobs and...

Free Fallin', I'm-a Free Fallin' I tuned in to today's City Council hearing on the "no personal liability if you walk away" bill amongst others and of course, the politicians all said the right things and the community leaders are 110% behind small business and...

Restaurant landlords and tenants explain their business models and discuss rents and leases and what matters most to them. James Wacht, a restaurant landlord, broker and attorney and John Fraser, a veteran NYC chef and restaurateur will join David Helbraun for an open and frank...

Landlords and Tenants Commence. Historic Peace Talks! Dear HL Clients, The Camp David peace talks commenced today as Landlords and Tenants gathered for the Peace on the Lower East webinar hosted by me.  It was an open, honest and illuminating conversation that exposed the minds...

HOPE IS NOT A PLAN... Dear HL Clients, It's going to be a while until we are back up to speed. I'm thinking 2nd Quarter 2021 before we see the industry and sales approaching normal. We can hope that it happens faster and we can...

HEY, LANDLORDS & LEGISLATORS... LISTEN UP! Dear HL Clients,Our voices must be heard.  We are too big and too important to be silenced or marginalized. If we can't get landlords to work with us or legislators to take us seriously, we are going to have to take...

Corey Johnson is a GOOD GUY!! Dear HL Clients, If Speaker Corey Johnson can muscle the bill that he introduced in the City Council into law that removes the personal (Good Guy) guaranty from our restaurant leases, he may just get my vote when he...

Doctor, Doctor, give me the news...Dear HL Clients,I tell my staff that we are all legal oncologists now. Our clients are facing the most serious threat to their existence and are relying on us to help treat (advise) them so they can survive. So, we...

Excuse me... are you in line? Dear HL Clients, I'll happily stand on a line (not for eggs) if I know how fast it's moving and if I know that I will be able to get what I want when they call my number.  If we...

SHAME SHACK! Dear HL Clients, Damn, that kitchen got hot in a hurry. Behold the power of the media and its ability to shed light on inequalities and smack those doing the wrong thing into doing the right thing.  And props to Danny  M. for doing...

Dearly Elected,We are gathered here today to give you a piece of our mother@!%$$# mind. Dear HL Clients, I love you all so much. You answered the clarion call and sent me eloquent, sarcastic, painful, funny and deliciously nasty answers to the question I posed: "What do...

Aaaaaaaaaaaand..... SCENE Dear HL Clients, Nothing really to discuss today.  Just another lovely afternoon in hermitville.  The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and then Congress took a roaring Ruth's Chris dump all over our industry.  Lovely right? Chuck, Nancy, Mitch, would you please...

Time Keeps onSlippin' Slippin' Slippin... Dear HL Clients, Is there a future?  I watched our hero Governor today and he set shit straight.  He told us about how he is thinking about opening businesses and his take on it was rational and realistic and sobering. He said...

PPPPlease Please Please(approve the damn loans already) Dear HL Clients, Was I hallucinating or did I hear Mr. Mnuchin promise a few weeks ago that loan money was going to be available like the same day? Hold on. Just as I thought,  Google confirms that's what...

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY LANDLORDS & TENANTS WILL COME TOGETHER Dear HL Clients, Poof!  Pretty soon, that loan cash is going to magically appear in your bank account and, if you have been following along, you know that you can use up to...

Let It Rip! Dear HL Clients: I'm in a very unique position that I get to talk to so many of you every day.  You tell me what's on your mind and how you are feeling about things and taps me into the zeitgeist of...

HUSTLE & CASH FLOW Dear HL Clients:I have spoken to many of you over the past few weeks about your concerns and fears and would sum up the common theme with just one exclamatory word.  How?!  How am I going to make it to reopening?  How...

Please Sir....May we have some more? Dear HL Clients, It was the worst of times and...  that's it.  No best,  just worst. I know it's a different Dickens reference.  So sue me. Why worst?  Because no one in Washington or Albany is listening to us...

 FIRE APPS!!! Dear HL Clients, Let's make sure that we are all working on our loan applications and that they are going in asap. We keep hearing rumors that the money is running low and we know our dearly elected are talking about adding 250 B's to the...

♪ ♫  Just say the word, oh....Ru-Ru-Rubio ♪ ♫ Dear HL Clients, We are in the thick of SBA applications and it's playing out like an old monster movie: The Bloated Bureaucrat vs. The Baffled Banker or, more appropriately like the modern romcom: Clueless.  But, don't worry because our man Marco Rubio is on...

Dear HL Clients, The banks casually flung open their doors today in the softest of openings knowing that they had impatient and ravenous customers lined up around the country waiting to file their loan applications.  Of course, they couldn't handle the stampede of applicants, were completely overwhelmed and delivered a wholly underwhelming and...

Dear HL Clients, Let's get our shit ready.  Despite a lot of pushback from the banks, Secretary Mnuchin is sticking to his guns and saying that the loan program will start tomorrow.  Who to believe?  Better safe than sorry, so we are prepping our applications and getting them...