Jing fong reeling chinatown9/22/2023 ![]() "This is unfolding as we speak at a pace I don't think we've ever seen before," Peers said. Peers said larger restaurants such as those are getting hit first with a drop in customers, as well as hotels and the tourism industry. The manager, Janet Yng, planned to re-open Saturday, but noted business has been "very slow." I feel deeply sad that that's going to happen to a lot of the folks that are there."Ī manager for another large Chinese restaurant in the area, Pacificana, said they had to close Thursday and Friday due to water outages. "All of that stuff is now going to be put on hold. ![]() The large spaces draw big groups for birthdays, anniversaries, or cultural events. "These restaurants are obviously going to be at a disadvantage," Peers said. ![]() East Harbor Seafood Palace, Bamboo Garden, Park Asia, and Affable Eatery have all temporarily closed. In Sunset Park, four dim sum restaurants have been forced to close due to a decrease in customers this week, according to the president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Randy Peers. There’s just not a lot of foot traffic down there.As New Yorkers are advised to avoid crowded spaces amid the growing COVID-19 outbreak, some in the food industry are already feeling the impacts on their businesses as the virus spreads through New York City, rising to 62 cases as of Thursday morning. Now, there’s no tourists, businesses are told to work from home, and the local community tend to prefer to eat at home. There’s not much residential around here. “We’re in a part of town that’s more tourist dependent. It’s not just rent, it’s just not neighborhood, it’s not just utilities. And even once restaurants were allowed to partially reopen, the 25 percent occupancy limit has proved difficult to navigate because the restaurant loses its volume and bustle, Lam noted to Gary He on Eater NY, According to a statement posted to the restaurant’s Instagram, Lam will seek to reopen Jing Fong elsewhere, and says in a statement they are “actively and quickly searching.” Jing Fong shut down on March 12 following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s order prohibiting large gatherings of 500 or more people. “Our type of restaurant, that does dim sum lunches and banquet hall stuff, everybody is struggling and just kind of trying to survive one day at a time.”Īt 800 seats, the restaurant’s size has presented issues since the start of the pandemic. ![]() “We are basically running the smallest part of our business, which is delivery, for a year,” he explains. Today, he says sales are down 85 percent, in part because the restaurant’s events business - once half of all sales - has completely evaporated. Last February, Lam said sales were down 25 to 50 percent, depending on the day, “The writing’s on the wall that it’s basically going to be down, we just don’t know how much,” he said at the time. Restaurants in Chinatowns were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier than most because of a precipitous drop in tourism, growing concerns in the community over the coronavirus, and Sinophobia that also led to an alarming spike in hate crimes against Asian Americans. “At the end of the day, we’ve been dealing with this pandemic now, for us, over a year,” says Truman Lam, whose grandfather opened the restaurant. In 2017 the owners expanded with a second location on the Upper West Side, which will also remain open. Open since 1978, Jing Fong is Manhattan’s largest Chinese restaurant and one of the neighborhood’s more famous spots. The business will continue to operate its takeout and delivery business, as well as offer service on its outdoor, second-floor patio. Chinatown’s dim sum palace Jing Fong will close its sprawling indoor dining room, the owners announced today. ![]()
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