Almost One-Third of NYC Restaurants Missed June Rent, Survey Finds

By Nicholas Rizzi | 2 June 2020

COMMERCIAL OBSERVER — The majority of restaurant owners around the city did not pay their entire rent in June, with 30 percent skipping out on it altogether, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to make it harder for eateries to survive, a new survey found.

The nonprofit New York City Hospitality Alliance surveyed 509 restaurateurs around the city and found four out of five didn’t pay the full June rent. Of those, 90 percent said they paid half or less last month.

“Pre-pandemic, it was incredibly difficult to run a successful restaurant,” Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the Hospitality Alliance, said. “These conditions, the longer that it goes on, is going to make it more and more challenging for small businesses to ever recover. The vast majority of small businesses will not be able to pay back months of missed rent.” […]