The Mayor Loves Mom-and-Pops. Here’s His Plan to Actually Save Them.
Plus, the news you missed over the holidays
Happy New Year and welcome back. We’re nine days into 2026, and already, so much has happened in the world of NYC restaurants. There’s a new mayor in town — hi, Zohran Mamdani — and Eater contributor Andrea Strong checks in with New York City Hospitality Alliance executive director Andrew Rigie to find out how the administration can support NYC independent restaurants amidst the rising costs of everything. And then we’re catching y’all up on news bits you might’ve missed during the holiday break. — Nadia Chaudhury, deputy dining editor, Northeast
How Mamdani Can Actually Help Restaurants
Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win is likely to change the city in many ways to come, with policies aimed at making the city more affordable. But it’s not just the residents who are feeling the increased cost of living in New York. Many of the city’s independent restaurants are in crisis, with closures mounting due to rising costs of rent, labor, food, deliveries, and apps.
The challenges could be exacerbated if the $30 minimum wage gets passed, a policy change nearly everyone in the industry says will be a death knell for neighborhood restaurants. The mayor clearly has a soft spot for mom-and-pops, hanging out at spots like Kabab King in Jackson Heights. But his favorite restaurants are in danger if restaurants don’t get breaks in the cost of business.
To get a sense of what the NYC restaurant community needs from the new administration, I sat down with Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, one of the industry’s most powerful advocacy groups, to lay out what Mayor Mamdani can do to keep our restaurants not just surviving, but thriving.
Andrea Strong: If you could wave a magic wand, what would you have Mamdani do for the restaurant industry?
Andrew Rigie: He can cut red tape so restaurants open faster, reduce fines, fees, and taxes that treat small businesses like an ATM, and improve outdoor dining by allowing year-round streeteries and enclosed sidewalk cafes during cooler months.
He should also tackle scaffolding, support immigrants, and invest in tourism. He must resist over-regulating and micromanaging how restaurants operate.
The mayor has a real opportunity to make supporting restaurants a pillar of his administration. They keep streets vibrant, create jobs and culture, and generate the tax revenue needed to fulfill his campaign promises, like universal childcare, which is also critically important for the restaurant industry. So, while I unfortunately don’t have a magic wand, we have a policy roadmap for Mayor Mamdani’s administration; they just need the interest, expertise, and political will to make it happen.
If we are looking at a $30 minimum wage, how are independent restaurants supposed to afford that? We want to pay livable wages, but how can you increase minimum wage by double and not expect small businesses to close?
Thousands of small business owners who care deeply about their teams are sounding the alarm about a $30 minimum wage, warning it would force restaurants to close, cut workers’ hours, eliminate jobs, and push dining prices even higher, making the city even less affordable. This isn’t theoretical; it’s a financial reality for many independent restaurants in neighborhoods across the city.
Are we moving toward eliminating the tip credit? Is that good for our industry?
We certainly hope not, because eliminating the tip credit would be a disaster—just as we saw recently in Washington, D.C. D.C. tried this, and the disaster was so bad they reversed course.
To put this in context: If New York were to eliminate the tip credit and move to a $30 minimum wage, it would cost restaurants an additional $40,000+ more per year to employ each full-time tipped worker. For many restaurants, that translates into hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of dollars in new annual labor costs, which would simply crush them. It is also important to note that many tipped workers in restaurants and bars already earn $30 or more an hour when combining their tipped wage and tips.
What can we do about helping restaurants with rents and real estate tax bills?
Rent is a tough issue, and for years, there’s been debate over commercial rent regulation, though many question whether it’s constitutional. While some government officials consider it a potential option, there are also many ways the city can reform itself instead of relying solely on regulating the private sector.
For example, much of New York City’s property tax system is broken. Many restaurants pay a share of their building owners’ property taxes, which have skyrocketed. Reforming the system — and even offering credits to offset these taxes — could provide real relief. Unjust fees, like the Commercial Rent Tax that affects only certain Manhattan restaurants on top of already high rents, should be eliminated.
Additionally, there are more creative approaches: For certain small and significant businesses, the city could provide rent stipends to help sustain them if they bring immense cultural and historical value to the city, but their business model is no longer viable in the current market. Large corporations get tax breaks to come to or stay in New York City. So why not extend the same support to neighborhood restaurants and bars? The city should invest in restaurants being here, not price them out.
As diners face sky-high wine costs on top of inflated checks from food costs and the like, there is a lot of pressure on the wallet. How can we make it so that diners can afford to eat out again?
I’m not sure there’s a way to bring prices down at this point. The elimination of tariffs can help. But implementing the supportive policies I mentioned and not implementing the damaging ones will certainly help mitigate the skyrocketing operating costs that have forced restaurants to increase prices.
Most of the 25,000 restaurants in the city aren’t on the “best of” lists where reservations are hard to get, so while those spots are absolutely worth visiting, it’s the small, local, family-owned places that truly rely on regular neighborhood customers to survive.
Of course, if you can, go out, eat, drink, and spend money at as many restaurants as you can. But also find a gem in your own neighborhood and become a regular.
All the News You Missed Over the Holidays
So much has been happening in New York restaurants!!! Here are some highlights.
Red Hook neighborhood restaurant Pitt’s (with those amazing pancake souffles) is going on what it’s calling a “winter hibernation” this season. Its last day for now was on Sunday, January 4. Back in the fall, owner Jeremy Salamon talked with Eater NY about how he was struggling to keep his other restaurant, Agi’s Counter in Crown Heights, open (which is remaining so).
The Greenpoint location of NYC-based slice shop chain Paulie Gee’s is undergoing a major change. The 60 Greenpoint Avenue space is turning the space into a new tavern with a new name to be announced — but don’t worry — it’ll still serve its famed pizza when it reopens in March, alongside drinks. For renovation purposes, the restaurant closed on Sunday, January 4. Keep in mind that this location isn’t run by Paulie Gee’s founder, Paul Giannone; rather, it’s under the Brooklyn dive bar team that runs places like Skinny Dennis, Rocka Rolla, and Lucky Dog.
Alex Pincus of Grand Banks will buy Montero from longtime owner Pepe Montero, New York Post reports. The transaction should be complete around March, after which Pincus says he’ll bring back the small kitchen but otherwise keep it as-is.
Hale and Hearty is back?!?!?!?!?!
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The reality is the “thinning” of the restaurant space, yes, prices keep rising for everyone and more and more restaurants will fall by the wayside. The COVID accelerated take-out continues to grow, customer tastes change, and the mayor scrambles to increase not decrease revenue.
And whether we’re at the edge of a major recession discourages major new investments