NYC Outdoor Eating Is Mostly Coming To An End

By Idy Perl

Outdoor dining exploded during the pandemic, as it was peddled as the safest way to enjoy eating out while maintaining social distancing. Many restaurants kept their outdoor dining option open even after COVID-19, but many are now set to close down. 

This past Saturday was the deadline for restaurants to apply for the Dining Out NYC program, which would provide eateries with a license to keep their outdoor dining options open. The program, which comes at a cost for restaurants, would also set specific guidelines they would need to follow in order to keep the license. So far, fewer than 3,000 restaurants out of the 13,000 that had outdoor dining during the pandemic, have applied for the program. 

Eateries that fail to apply for Dining Out NYC are required to shut down their outdoor dining or will face fines of up to $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for every subsequent offense.