Hotel Restaurants in New York Could Be Hurt by a Licensing Hotels Bill

Hotel restaurants can get a bad rap, but in New York City some of the best spots are located within hotels: Andrew Carmellini’s Café Carmellini is in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, and both Tom Colicchio and Daniel Boulud have restaurants at the Beekman. However, all of these establishments could be in jeopardy.

The Licensing Hotels Bill, or “Safe Hotels Act,” was introduced in New York in mid-July. And while it relates to many aspects of hotel operations, restaurateurs are worried that it could result in the end of many restaurant leases and management agreements, Eater New York reported on Wednesday.

“I’ve dealt with countless issues,” Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, told Eater. “This one has galvanized opposition and outrage unlike any other.”

Among other things, the bill—which is being sponsored by 26 members of New York’s city council—could give hotel management the ability to hire restaurant staff, Eater noted. As it stands, New York’s hotel restaurants generally operate as third parties that hire their own employees. If that were to change, hotels would have oversight of the hiring process, and could enforce their own priorities rather than those of restaurant management.

Julie Menin, the council member who introduced the bill, says that it’s largely meant to increase safety and standards at hotels throughout the city. She told Eater that she and her colleagues have been talking with the Hospitality Alliance to address its concerns, and that changes have been made in response to what those in the restaurant industry are saying.

But even then, chefs and hospitality professionals aren’t fully on board with what Menin and the city council are proposing. “I’m with you in most of your work but your Hotel Licensing Bill would be a disaster for restaurateurs operating in hotels,” Colicchio wrote to Menin on X. “It’s really scary … It would be catastrophic for our industry,” Terence Tubridy, whose In Good Company Hospitality runs several hotel restaurants, told Eater.

While a public hearing was initially scheduled for July 30, it was postponed to give time for more feedback. So far, at least, the response from chefs and restaurateurs operating in hotels is that the Licensing Hotels Bill leaves them in the lurch.

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