My Restaurant Was Named One of New York City’s Best. Here’s Why It Closed.

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-12-28 23:53:46 | Updated at 2024-12-29 16:47:57 17 hours ago

My Restaurant Was Named One of New York City’s Best. Here’s Why It Closed.
The New York Times ^ | Dec. 28, 2024, 7:00 a.m. ET | Yannick Benjamin

Posted on 12/28/2024 3:43:41 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

Last Saturday, I poured wine, greeted regulars and strangers and bused tables at Contento, the restaurant I co-owned in East Harlem, for the last time. After more than three years of service, during which The New York Times ranked us twice among the 100 Best Restaurants in New York City and the Michelin Guide gave me its sommelier award, I had to say goodbye to my talented staff and lifelong dream of owning a restaurant. The combination of inflation, rising crime that required us to pay for security guards and declining profits simply proved insurmountable.

I’m crushed that we had to close Contento. I have to admit I’m also relieved. Running a restaurant in 2024 meant taking no salary while working a full-time hospitality job elsewhere in order to afford private health insurance. This is the cruel math of owning a small business and being disabled in America.

My story is one small part of an ongoing struggle for restaurant workers and culinary culture across New York City and the country. If you’re wondering why you so rarely see a disabled person like myself on a wheelchair on the floor of your favorite restaurant, why menu prices seem so high or why service feels uneven nearly five years after the pandemic began, the American health care system deserves much of the blame. If that sounds melodramatic, ask your favorite server.

It has always been difficult to sustain a career in hospitality, but brief rumblings of progress during the early days of the pandemic brought us some hope. In 2020, when the true value of essential workers and the inequities they faced finally pierced the public consciousness, it seemed like we were on the brink of major change.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

TOPICS: Humor
KEYWORDS: bidencrimewave; bidenflation; corruptgovernment

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Thank you very much and God bless you.

I bet he'll still vote Democrat.

To: E. Pluribus Unum

“I bet he’ll still vote Democrat.”

He opened the place 3 years ago, when NY City was a cesspool, and only getting cessier. He’s not just a Democrat, he’s an IDIOT Democrat, and now his family will pay the price...but given his picture, I doubt there’s much of a family.

2 posted on 12/28/2024 3:48:48 PM PST by BobL

To: E. Pluribus Unum

He was supposed to open a restaurant in New York City to launder money, not to make a profit.

3 posted on 12/28/2024 3:50:49 PM PST by T.B. Yoits

To: E. Pluribus Unum

“ The combination of inflation, rising crime”

Stolen elections and illegitimate presidents have consequences.

4 posted on 12/28/2024 3:51:44 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)

To: E. Pluribus Unum

The restaurant business has always been tough.

Add in high mandated costs such as wages and health care benefits and high food costs caused by fossil fuel-hating fools, and it is increasingly just too much.

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