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NYC bars and restaurants say they're struggling and may raise prices
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Nov 10, 2026 at 4:38 p.m. ET
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By
Catalina Gonella
Published Nov 10, 2026 at 4:38 p.m. ET
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New York City bars and restaurants are struggling to keep up financially amid rising operating costs and uneven customer spending, according to a survey by trade association NYC Hospitality Alliance.
Many bars, restaurants and nightlife establishments are considering raising menu prices or reducing staff, if they haven’t already, according to the NYC Hospitality Alliance’s quarterly survey. It found that among the 275 establishments represented in replies to the survey, half said they were breaking even or operating at a loss in the third quarter of this year. About the same amount said their sales were below expectations.
It was a dip in performance after a strong second quarter, in which operators received a boost from World Cup and Knicks game watchers, said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. The group represents more than 3,000 restaurants in the city.
“These big events gave a lot of small businesses a big boost, he said. “Unfortunately, it seems that it was short-lived.”
According to the survey, 61% of restaurant operators said they had or were considering raising menu prices, and 57% reported reducing or considering reducing employee hours or staffing levels. Almost half of operators surveyed, or 45%, identified labor costs as a leading business concern. Other major issues cited were inflation and tariffs, liability insurance and commercial rents, according to the survey.
Rigie said the numbers speak to how widespread challenges like labor costs and rising cost of goods are in the industry, and a need for policymakers to step in to address them. He said one area of concern should be the city’s affordability crisis, which beyond affecting individual New Yorkers, also affects restaurant sales when people spend less money.
“The cost to purchase goods continues to go up, has stayed high, and there's really only so much that restaurants can pass the cost on to their customers in the form of increased menu prices,” Rigie said. “When you start to increase menu prices, you can deter customers from coming to the restaurant and spending money. Often, they will order differently. They'll order less. So even some restaurants that have experienced increased overall sales, they've reported decreased profitability. So it's a complex issue that's going on.”
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business
economy
new york city
restaurants
Catalina Gonella
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