FALL NEWSLETTER

****FALL NEWSLETTER****

SOFT SERVE CITY!!

CITY HALL’S RESTAURANT RELIEF FALLS SHORT

PLUS:
* Exciting Fall Webinar/Seminar Lineup!!
* Big ideas for the Mayor to Help the Industry
* Sidewalk and Roadway Cafe Updates

Dear HL Clients and Friends,

Yes, we threw side eyes at Mayor Mamdani after he promised to radically cut the NYC red tape and help out restaurants and bars, but we quietly held out hope that maybe he was different. We were willing to look past our jaded outlook on how we are usually treated by NYC’s Dearly Elected and give the new Mayor a shot.

After all, it seems our Mayor is a food guy.  He likes to dine out and he hits the outer boroughs to support the mom and pops and he seems like a real restaurant lover. No knife and fork pizza embarrassment from this born and bred New Yorker right? So when Mayor Mamdani told us that he was going to fix the legendary bureaucracy and badgering that qualifies NYC as the undisputed titleholder of America’s Most Inhospitable City For The Hospitality Industry, we were quietly and desperately optimistic.

After all, the Mayor got it right when he proclaimed that small restaurants were being hurt by excessive permits, fines, and regulatory costs.  And we were enchanted when he pledged to simplify city requirements and lower fines that chip away at our profits. Right away he told (ordered!) all of the city agency commissioners to identify ways to accomplish this and demanded a report on his desk asap!!  A Queens guy was in the house and he knew how to get stuff done. We had hope.

Womp Womp.  We got free soft serve permits.  And, oooh, a faster second health inspection and a supposed concierge service to help us navigate red tape in city agencies.  And the outdoor dining permitting program timeline has sped up from 14 months to 13 months!  Rejoice!

What a disappointment. We got ugatz. Seems like the Mayor, although well-meaning, got swallowed up by the same bureaucracy that stifles small businesses here in NYC. It’s just not easy to make big changes in the morass that is our NYC government. Not even for the Mayor.

And because complaining doesn’t improve our condition or do anything other than further our misery, lets give our Mayor the benefit of the doubt that he wants to truly make the industry stronger and offer him some actionable items that would make our lives better.  He can still help us if the desire is really there and we hope he listens.  It’s still early.

Contact your Council Member or the Mayor’s Office and talk to them about what fixes you think are important.

Here’s a widget where you can type in your address to find your council member: Council widget
and a list of all Council Members: Council Members

Contact the Mayor’s Office on Instagram by sending a message to: @nycmayor

These are ideas we pitched in January:

Health Department – adopt a fix it first model by creating a cure period for low risk issues. Have the DOH work collaboratively with restaurants to protect NYC diners rather than the scare-you-first tactics that they currently use. Do we really need a DOH inspector whipping out a badge at the host stand to announce a Saturday night inspection to keep the public safe?  Come at a normal hour, conduct your inspection, tell us what you see at the time and that you hate that we sous vide and instruct us on how to make it right and then send it to us in writing. Allow us a week or two to fix the problems and come back.  Then, if we don’t have our act together, you can fine us.  But the nickel and diming and harassment has got to stop.

Commercial Rent Stabilization – Freeze the Rent!  Freeze the Rent! – New York City can adopt commercial rent stabilization that targets small, independent operators by guaranteeing renewal rights, setting annual increases to a transparent formula tied to inflation with a fair-return floor, and using neutral arbitration when the parties cannot agree on terms. This is not a hard price cap; it is process and predictability. Versions exist elsewhere: France limits annual rent increases for small and midsize tenants using; the United Kingdom gives business tenants statutory renewal rights with courts setting market rent when needed; Ireland bans upward-only rent reviews so rent can move both up and down with the market. Can you imagine your rent lowering!

Con Ed – Navigating the nightmare that is Con Ed is a great example of why doing business in NYC is so difficult. Want gas service connected? Call six hundred times and you’ll get a vague time frame where they might come. Did you take over a space that has an outstanding bill for thousands of dollars from the the last tenant? Too bad. Pay it or we ain’t turning on the gas. It’s nuts and the we need an intervention.

Have the NYC SBS (Department of Small Business Services) create a “Con Ed Ombudsman”  to deal with the nightmare of calling them for new service or for anything at all. Have one point of contact that shepherds restaurants through load letters, meter requests, vault approvals, and inspections. Do the same for the FDNY and DOB. It’s not that much work and would cost very little.

311 Complaints -The Mayor should stop the few chronic 311 callers who treat the system like a personal cudgel by calling again and again about the same restaurant or bar. It’s too loud!  There’s people coming and going all night! There’s too much fun happening!

The code should batch duplicate complaints into a single cases and allow anonymous logging for trends but require a verified account to trigger any inspection that could lead to official visits or fines. No more midnight cop visits based on one person’s crusade. Inspectors should need actual evidence like a meter reading or their own observation, and first-time issues should get a cure period with an education visit, not a ticket.  If a single filer keeps flooding 311 with unsubstantiated complaints about the same business, warn them and then fine them for abusing the system.

Mayor Mamdani, we’re here to help. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly at [email protected].

– David

and more helpful reform ideas from our staff….

Lease Security Deposit Relief – Jason Dunietz, Partner and Real Estate Chair

If the City wants to provide meaningful help to restaurant operators, one place to start is by reducing the amount of cash they are forced to tie up before they even open. New restaurants are often required to post several months of rent as a security deposit, which can divert significant funds away from construction, equipment, staffing and other essential opening costs.

One practical solution would be a City-backed lease security program for qualifying restaurants, under which the City would support a limited portion of the security required by the landlord. Landlords would still receive protection, while restaurant owners could preserve more of their capital for actually opening and operating the business. Similar public programs already help small businesses obtain financing in other contexts, and applying that same concept to lease security would be the kind of practical reform that could provide restaurant operators with real, immediate relief.

Ease of Consolidation of OATH Hearings – Tyler Morris, Chair, Litigation Group

Many hospitality clients must navigate the ever-shifting regulatory landscape enforced by various city agencies, including but not limited to the FDNY, Dept. of Sanitation, the Dept. of Mental Health and Hygiene, and the Dept. of Consumer and Worker Protection.

This can result in numerous OATH hearings in front of the City before the underlying issues are involved. OATH should allow the respondents to easily combine all open summonses into one fixed hearing date rather than have to come back multiple times.

Such a change would not only create more efficiency for both the City and the respondent but would also allow for issues to be resolved in a more timely fashion

Restaurant Meal Break Rules Need an Update by Brianne Murphy, Chair, Labor Practices Group

New York’s meal-break rules often require restaurant employees to take breaks during the busiest parts of lunch and dinner service. The rules simply weren’t designed with restaurant operations in mind.

We encourage Mayor Mamdani to work with the State Department of Labor to create greater flexibility for restaurants, including allowing breaks during family meal or outside peak service periods.

Employees deserve meal breaks. Restaurants deserve rules that actually work.

Fall Semester of Seminars & Webinars is Here!

Whether you are a small business opening your first concept or an established hospitality group looking to scale, our expert sessions are tailored to provide actionable, high-value legal and business guidance for every stage of growth.

Check out our full Fall lineup below and claim your spot today! Some are live and in-person and some are online.

Monday, 9/21 | 11:00am | Corporate | Webinar (online):

How to Build a Hospitality Group + Andrew Fine & David Helbraun

Backed by popular demand, we are diving into hospitality’s hottest topic: scalability. We’ll talk about how to scale a hospitality group through a process commonly referred to as a corporate “rollup.” You’ll learn how savvy hospitality operators take advantage of economies of scale, and how you can as well!

Click to sign up

Tuesday, 10/20 | 5:00pm | Hotel | Seminar-Happy Hour (in-person):

How Restaurant Brands Can Own the Hotel Boom Without Owning the Building + Amber Asher

Hotels cracked the asset-light code decades ago: own the brand, run the experience, and let someone else carry the real estate and the risk. Learn how restaurateurs and chefs can now do the same, scaling their concepts into hotels through management deals, licensing, and joint ventures while owners bring the building and the capital.

This will be in-person and spots are limited and will go fast.

Click to sign up