SLDR Burger Bar’s sidewalk dining setup in October. (Credit: Irene Bantigue)
From his restaurant, John Arvanitis, Jr., owner of SLDR Burger Bar in Astoria, has a clear view of his father’s longtime Greek café across the corner of Broadway and 33rd St. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arvanitis Jr. helped build his father’s roadside dining structures. He shifted focus toward redesigning his own restaurant’s sidewalk setup as the Nov. 1 deadline to comply with the city’s permanent outdoor dining program approached.
“In any New York restaurant setting, an increase in space will almost always mean more jobs,” Arvanitis, Jr. said. “That could be service and could also be pest control management, for example. Money will circulate in a higher volume than it otherwise would without an expanded space.”
Restaurants aiming to continue outdoor dining needed to apply for a four-year license by August. Sidewalk structures cannot be fully enclosed, and roadside dining sheds are no longer permitted year-round—they must be disassembled in the winter months, from December to March.
Despite 13,000 establishments offering outdoor dining during and after the pandemic, only 3,000 restaurants applied in August to keep their structures, according to numbers released by the city. In Queens, nearly two-thirds of pending sidewalk licenses are from Astoria and surrounding neighborhoods, which have the densest outdoor café scene in the borough.
Arvanitis, Sr., 67, and his son, Jr., 30, inside SLDR. (Credit: Irene Bantigue)
Astoria hosts the largest Greek community outside of Greece, and this cultural influence is reflected in its lively outdoor dining scene. Many of its 27 sidewalk cafés, including those run by the Arvanitis family, are run by first- and second-generation Greek immigrants.
Earlier this year, the city claimed that its Open Restaurants program provided a vital boost during the pandemic saving 100,000 jobs at its peak. A 2022 NYU study found that compared to the pre-pandemic Sidewalk Cafés program, Open Restaurants helped non-White and low-income communities double their participation in outdoor dining.
Dominic Sonkowsky, a co-author of the report, said that low application numbers for the permanent dining program might be due to a lack of awareness about the new rules. He expressed concern that business owners, especially non-English speakers, risk heavy fines if they don’t dismantle their old structures. Others may avoid applying due to the complexity of the rules, missing out on a valuable income source.
A recent survey from the NYC Hospitality Alliance, an industry advocacy association, found that 40 percent of restaurant owners cited stricter guidelines as the reason they didn’t apply to the program. About 30 percent noted the complicated application process, among other challenges.
Dan Doctoroff, the city’s former deputy mayor for economic development, argued that fixed outdoor seating structures should be phased out. “They can’t be moved, which makes them vulnerable to trash, rats, snowplows, and sanitation trucks,” Doctoroff wrote in an email. “More flexible unenclosed sidewalk cafés, if designed attractively, address these issues.”
John Arvanitis, Sr., in contrast to his son, said he longs for simpler times when outdoor dining wasn’t an option.
“When everybody stays inside,” he said, “it’s warmer altogether.”
About the author(s)
Irene Bantigue is a freelance journalist and M.S. student at Columbia Journalism School, specializing in arts, culture, and immigrant communities.