Comptroller Lander Reveals Only 40 out of 3,500 Restaurants Have Received Outdoor Dining Permits Ahead of the Program’s April 1 Start
At the peak, estimated 12,500 restaurants had an outdoor dining setup, leading to 11,720 jobs and $373 million in total annual wages
New York, NY— Ahead of the outdoor dining season beginning on April 1, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander reveals that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has only submitted 40 outdoor dining permits to the Office of the Comptroller, as required by law, despite a total of 3,500 restaurants having applied since the application period opened in March 2024.
“New York City’s restaurant scene survived and flourished because of outdoor dining—and yet City Hall’s kitchen is backed up with permits, leaving lots of restaurants out in the cold,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “Spring is almost here, and restaurants owners are running out of time to design new outdoor seating and obtain liquor licenses. The Department of Transportation needs to stop ticket stacking and start sending their permits to this office.”
At the height of the outdoor dining program, an estimated 12,500 restaurants had a temporary outdoor dining setup. During this time, outdoor dining was a lifeline for restaurants to not only survive the pandemic but thrive. According to an analysis from the Comptroller’s office, at its peak, outdoor dining created 11,720 jobs, resulting in $373 million of total annual wages, and generated $9.6 million annual income tax to the City. The program also offered restaurants the opportunity to activate 2.4 million square feet of parking spaces, which would have cost restaurants an estimated $156.4 million in total annual commercial rent.
In response to the Adams Administration’s mismanagement of this process, Comptroller Lander submitted a letter to Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi and DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez calling on the agency to process and file all outdoor dining applications currently in its queue by the end of the month to give restaurants time to plan for the upcoming season.
Additionally, the Comptroller, in partnership with the New York City Hospitality Alliance, calls on the agency to implement the following recommendations:
- Commit DOT to a clear application processing time
- Offer an option for year-round roadway dining
- Permit safe sidewalk café enclosures
- Allow more flexibility for safe sidewalk café clearances
- Improve the user-friendliness of the application process
- Clarify scaffolding requirements
“While the Dining Out NYC program is certainly an improvement over the pre-pandemic sidewalk café law, we’ve come to understand why too few restaurants have applied and been approved. Now is the perfect time for the city to enact thoughtful reforms to outdoor dining that further streamline the application process, support high-quality winter enclosures, allow for year-round roadway cafés, among other modifications. These changes would remove barriers for small businesses and help foster a thriving outdoor dining scene. Thanks to Comptroller Lander’s analysis, we now have a clearer picture of the economic consequences of losing so much outdoor dining. These reforms won’t just support local restaurants—they’ll also boost tax revenue and create jobs. We’re eager to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to ensure that NYC is the country’s model for al fresco dining,” said Andrew Rigie, Executive Director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance.
Read the full letter: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/letter-to-deputy-mayor-for-operations-joshi-and-commissioner-rodriguez-re-dining-out-nyc-program/
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