The Death and Life of New York Outdoor Dining
What began as a vibrant, organic solution to a crisis has been stifled by overregulation.
On November 30, one of the COVID-19 pandemic's few positive influences on New York City came to an end. Earlier this year, the City Council voted to end the city's four-year experiment in laissez faire outdoor dining, replacing it with a labyrinth of regulations and fees. Over the past month, thousands of sidewalk dining setups—symbols of entrepreneurial creativity that enlivened city streets—have come down.
Like most great things about the city, the recent outdoor dining renaissance was unplanned. When the pandemic confined New Yorkers indoors, restaurateurs survived by taking business outdoors. Under an emergency program, the city allowed eateries to build makeshift structures on sidewalks and in parking spaces, creating lifelines for businesses and socially distanced spaces for diners.
In some cases, outdoor dining consisted of picnic tables under an awning—a typical scene in cities like Paris or Madrid, though novel in New York. More often, on-street parking spaces became an extension of the restaurant. Plywood sheds turned into elaborate structures, replete with air conditioners, heaters, and other amenities to provide year-round comfort. Diners enjoyed meals in everything from beaux arts birdcages to trolley cars.
It was a period of folk architectural experimentation unmatched in the city's history. Some structures were admittedly unsightly, but they were embraced nonetheless for their New York scrappiness.
Initially, regulators planned to end the program by Labor Day in 2020. Residents balked, and the program was kept in place. Observers thought the program would probably lead to permanent change.
But never underestimate the city's zeal to regulate. In 2021, peeved neighbors sued to end the program, citing the lack of a proper environmental review and violations of zoning laws that strictly separate commercial and residential uses. A small cadre of NIMBYs ("not in my backyard"), concerned about aesthetics, noise, and the loss of on-street parking, eventually won. By 2022, the state Supreme Court forced the city to end the outdoor dining program.
In response, the City Council adopted a new, permanent program in 2023, Dining Out NYC, that would be managed by the city's Department of Transportation (DOT).
"New Yorkers came to enjoy outdoor dining during the pandemic and Dining Out NYC has made it a permanent, vibrant part of our streets," New York City DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement. The department has touted it as the "nation's largest permanent outdoor dining program."
While aiming to preserve some of the emergency program's benefits, the new regulations are far more restrictive. The program requires outdoor structures to meet specific size and design criteria, be lightweight and removable, and operate only seasonally. Restaurants wishing to participate had to apply by August of this year. Those that did not meet the deadline were ordered to be dismantled by November 29, under threat of fines up to $1,000.
Restaurants face new fees, including a four-year licensing cost ranging from $1,050 to $2,100, plus annual charges based on the size of structures—all sure to increase over time. Applicants will be subjected to a public hearing, for which they must pay a fee ranging from $100 to $800. Adding to the cost, the seasonal model—running from April 1 to November 29—requires businesses to dismantle and rebuild their sheds each year.
The financial impact on restaurants likely goes beyond classic fees. In the best of cases, some businesses will no longer be allowed to operate outdoors for a third of a year. In the worst of cases, they may not be able to operate outdoor dining at all. The new rules could hit small restaurants hardest, where outdoor dining often doubled seating capacity. For the city as a whole, that means fewer jobs and diminished revenue. One restaurant group owner reported losing 72 employee shifts after removing sheds due to the new regulations.
Of the approximately 13,000 outdoor dining setups that once lined NYC's streets, fewer than 3,000 restaurants have applied for permits for next season. Among them, about 1,400 are for dining sheds, while the rest are for traditional sidewalk cafes. The DOT has yet to announce how many have been approved.
New York City's outdoor dining saga is a cautionary tale for what happens when cities prioritize bureaucratic control over innovation. What began as a creative, organic solution to an economic and social problem has been stifled by overregulation.
