Jing Fong, New York Chinatown’s iconic dim sum restaurant, announced on Friday that it would be permanently closing its palatial indoor dining room, which is capable of housing up to 800 diners at a time during a normal time, on March 7.
While many businesses in Chinatown have limited their indoor dining operations in response to public health and safety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jing Fong faced unique challenges due to its size.
Like many other restaurants, Jing Fong transitioned to takeout and delivery, but sales are still down 85 percent, third-generation owner and manager of Jing Fong Truman Lam told Eater NY. According to Business Insider, most of the revenue generated from takeout and delivery is dedicated to overhead costs like rent.
“The way I think about it is: no matter how many we sell, we’re probably not going to be able to make money anyway, right?” Lam told Insider. “It’s just a matter of how we can reduce the losses and try to fight to see another day.”
Even before New York first implemented restrictions on indoor dining, Jing Fong along with many other Chinese-owned businesses saw a significant drop in revenue. This was due in part to the decreased tourism and also anti-Chinese sentiment and xenophobia during the pandemic.
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During mid-February 2020, Lam once counted 36 diners in the indoor dining space, which could legally hold 800, according to Eater NY.
Though Jing Fong opened indoor dining in October of 2020 at a reduced 25% capacity, the venture was unsuccessful. Tourists, who make up the majority of the restaurant’s pre-pandemic business, were conspicuously absent, and the restaurant was unable to institute large banquets and buyouts, which made up half of its pre-pandemic business according to Eater NY.
“Our restaurant is not set up to serve 200 seats a la carte,” Lam said to Eater NY. “We’re super inefficient like that. It’s an atmosphere and volume game, otherwise it doesn’t work.”
Despite the uncertainty that comes with shuttering indoor dining operations, Jing Fong is still hopeful for the future. The restaurant plans to continue offering takeout, delivery and outdoor patio services as it searches for new locations.
“This is not the end for us, here at Chinatown, as we are actively looking for a new location to move into as soon as possible,” Jing Fong said.
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taken from Jing Fong Facebook
