NYC outdoor dining sheds shutter in droves amid new rules on storage, trees, fire hydrants: ‘It’s too costly’?
The blighted dining sheds that sprang up en masse during the COVID-19 pandemic could soon be a thing of the past due to strict new regulations — with thousands shuttering across the city as restaurant owners say they aren’t worth the cash and hassle.
Dubbed “Dining Out NYC,” the rules that went into effect Aug. 3 mandate restaurant owners to pay both a four-year $1,050 to $2,100 licensing fee and an annual fee based on the size of their sidewalk café — and shell out even more if their establishment is below 125th Street in Manhattan.
Eateries must also be able to store the sheds elsewhere from December to April (sidewalk dining will still be permitted year-round); avoid sheds encroaching on trees; maintain sheds at least 15 feet from fire hydrants and ensure ADA-compliant setups, among a bevy of other provisions.
“To be able to take it down, put it up, store it — unless you had a huge storefront, I don’t think it’s worth it,” said Maureen Donohue, owner of the 74-year-old Upper East Side mainstay Donohue’s Steakhouse, which tore its sheds down two weeks ago.
The pandemic-era outdoor dining cabin saved Donohue’s business, she said. The dining cabin once accounted for 35% of revenue — and its loss would make it hard to renew her lease.
“It’s too costly … [but] I miss it,” she told The Post.
Donohue isn’t the only one drawing the same cost-benefit conclusion.
Less than 2,600 restaurants applied for permits before last week’s deadline, according to the city Department of Transportation – compared to the roughly 6,000 restaurants that touted COVID-era dining permits as recently as last month.
Though eateries surveyed by The Post mourned the dining sheds as an additional source of revenue, most deemed the pandemic vestige an expensive headache as a result of this year’s additional regulations.
“There are too many specifications, so we’re going to get rid of this one and that’s it,” said Sam, the morning manager of the Qahwah House café on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “I get why the city has put in the regulations. Honestly, these structures are big and in the way.”
He wasn’t able to provide specifics on how much the demolition will set the café back, but did emphasize the cost of keeping it up wasn’t worth it. Demolition of existing structures can cost thousands of dollars alone, according to Hell Gate.
At its peak, 13,000 dining shed setups were erected during the similar — albeit temporary — Open Restaurants program during the pandemic. All of those restaurants self-certified under an emergency executive order without an application or approval process, the DOT said.
The DOT noted the Aug. 3 deadline was only for those who have existing set-ups.
“Applications remain open and we expect the number to grow between now and the April 1st launch of the first Dining Out NYC season,” the DOT said.
Establishments that don’t comply with the new rules or take down their existing sheds now face fines starting at $500.
“It’s so New York — when something works in New York they want to restrict it,” Long Islander turned Upper West Sider Thomas Grubb, 84, said of the dining sheds Monday afternoon — while he was enjoying his second gin martini with a twist in a dining shed outside Italian restaurant Arte Cafe on the Upper West Side.
“Why take them down? It’s healthy to sit outside,” he said. “I always prefer to sit outside. I love to watch people walk by.”
The revamped outdoor dining program “draws on lessons learned” from the COVID-19 pandemic, which saved 100,000 jobs in the Big Apple “but led to quality-of-life issues as a subset of restaurant owners were unable to maintain loosely regulated outdoor dining setups,” Mayor Eric Adams’ administration said during Dining Out NYC’s announcement in February.
The so-called quality of life issues ranged from rampant rats, noisy late-night patrons and “slum”-like shacks that blighted ritzy neighborhood streets, residents said at the time.
Some outdoor dining structures turned into hovels for the homeless, public sex stages or storage sheds, The Post previously reported.
“My neighborhood was quiet until this program began. Now it’s a nightmare,” one Manhattan Community Board 3 member said of the fast-and-loose dining shed program in 2021. “There are people drunk, reveling in the streets, fighting each other, harassing women and even harassing any passerby until 4 in the morning. We cannot sleep.”
The new rules were voted on last summer by the City Council as part of a bill slated to create a “uniform program that considers the unique circumstances in each borough and neighborhood,” according to the bill’s sponsor, then-Council Member Marjorie Velazquez of The Bronx.
“This was not a one-size-fits-all bill, and that’s the beauty of it,” Velazquez said at the time. “I am proud to have advocated for our small businesses throughout this process and look forward to seeing them thrive.”
In order to comply with the new structural restrictions, some eateries such as Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. are even hiring architects to reopen their outdoor dining.
General manager Naseem Mays told the Post that, for a seafood joint, having outdoor dining is worth the cost — and that they plan to keep the option despite the new city regulations.
“We can fit up to an extra 75 seats outside … The extra seats mean more diners, which brings in more money — so definitely a profit [rather] than a loss,” she explained.
Mays said the cost to owners was about a 20% increase, but wasn’t able to provide specific numbers – but she did note that maintenance ate about 15% of those extra profits.
Lawrence Bondulich, who owns Bin 71 wine bar on the Upper West Side, said he paid about $1,000 for each application — for both the sidewalk and the street — “plus we’re going to have to pay an annual fee.”
“By October 31 it all has to be completely gone, at our expense,” he said. “We then have to rebuild to their specifications … , it is a lot of work, will it be worth it? We’ll see in two years from now.”
Donohue told The Post she isn’t a fan of the new structural changes, and believes the new regulations are unsafe as it no longer allows an enclosed shed to cover patrons from all sides.
“When I had my structure – a steel structure – it was Plexiglas all the way up to the top,” Donohue said. “When cars flew down Lexington Avenue you didn’t have to worry about a piece of tin flying through the air, maybe hurting someone. You had barriers around. It was 100% safe.”
Council Member Keith Powers (D-4) who represents Midtown, Stuy Town and the Upper East Side, told The Post that outdoor dining was a “savior” for the restaurant industry during the pandemic era — but now that the crisis is over, regulation is critical.
“In my district, you had some beautiful, amazing structures and you had ones that had not had any level of attention or care since they first were put up so we did have to tackle this issue,” he said. “It was a pandemic program that was set up very quickly. Now, we’re actually in the process of figuring it out. It’s in its infancy.”
Powers said his father was in the restaurant business and he sees the benefits of expanding outdoor dining but wants to see an “approval process that works.”
“I’m a huge proponent of outdoor dining. I think it was a lifeline. I think it is an expansion opportunity for a lot of businesses to expand there,” he said.
“Neighbors have been complaining about the prior iterations of the program, and we’re trying to find the right balance between both sides of the equation.”
