A few days ago while chatting with friend and boss lady Ria of Harry’s Daughter, she asked me if any of the restaurants I work with are getting an influx of New York City Diners. A light-bulb went off in my head. With indoor dining closed across the river it would make perfect sense that New Yorkers would “find” us and realize how close and convenient we are to the city AND not have to freeze their asses off for a chicken parm and a glass of pinot.
I reached out to a few restaurant owners who all confirmed that they’ve been seeing a huge uptick of New Yorkers at their establishment.
Julian- Owner at Luna Restaurant
“We have been noticing a large influx of New York City diners over the past few weeks. Just last night we had a gentleman walk in and ask how he could make a reservation. For us this is nothing new, we have been doing it since August. He told me he lives in the city, and looked amazed to see indoor dining. He also said he hadn’t seen live music indoors in over a year. In fact, our weekly jazz show is put on by New York city jazz artists.
They invite friends and colleagues every week. Most New Yorkers I speak to are incredibly shocked at how easy and fast they were able to get to Luna, considering we are a short walk from the path. “I usually go see these guys play in Harlem, it took nearly half the amount of time to get to Jersey City, and I came from Williamsburg”. Just today I got a DM from someone in NYC who wants to have her birthday party with 7 friends at Luna in March. This is something that is not currently available in NYC and these customers are coming back more often, realizing there is great food, drinks and atmosphere for a fraction of the price, indoors and it’s just a path stop away”
John Gondevas c0-owner at Hamilton Inn and Hamilton Pork
Told us that according to Resy the app they use to track reservations that he’s been getting a ton of 212 number area code.
Mona, owner at Lokal JC
“We’ve surely seen some influx of NYC people since they shut down indoor dining. Here’s some info to refer to the fact that some of the diners coming in are from NY:- For our large group reservations of 5 – 8 guests, we usually require a credit card to hold the reservation and a lot of the reservation guests provide NYC zip codes. So that tells me they are coming from the other side of the river. – In addition, sometimes when I seat guests I usually start the conversation by asking if this is their first time with us and now I often ask if they are from Jersey or Manhattan and I do get NYC as the response from some of the guests- We’ve seen some influencers from NYC post pics on social media tagging us and tipping their followers to go to NJ for warmer indoor dining.- Finally, being a new restaurant still looking to create brand awareness, I have also done some sponsored marketing ads targeting the NYC area. Not sure how effective this has been but I hope it helps”
Ria, owner of Harry’s Daughter
We interact with our guests all the time and many have told us they are coming from NYC. We also notice more NY license plates parked in the neighborhood. We ate at Domo Domo last night and they are also getting alot of New Yorkers in.
George, owner of Buddy’s JC
We’ve been seeing ALOT of new faces around here, I noticed it a few weeks ago when people were asking for checks so they wouldn’t miss their PATH train.
There it is.
The tables have literally turned. I thought this moment would be much more satisfying then it is… Telling New Yorkers who raise their noses at us Jersey people ” I told you so! Jersey City culinary scene is where it’s fucking at. You’re sleeping on us” – Also like, any JC person knows that NYC people just walk around like they are better than all of us.
The thing is, as much as our community needs the support and cash flow, what’s happening in Manhattan is incredibly sad. Businesses are hurting so bad, many aren’t going to make it. The statistics are absolutely staggering.
There were over 11K restaurant + bar job losses in December alone (reported by NY State, shared by Eater)
Why aren’t they re-opening New York City dining? He went from being the pandemic hero, to the pandemic shmuk. As someone who was incredibly strict about social distancing, staying home, wearing masks I was absolutely supportive of restaurants re-opening indoors as long as they followed the guidelines and that people were responsible.
OPEN NYC. As much as we love the NYC dollar, we don’t want to see our neighboring small businesses close. Also hoping these new diners don’t bring over any weird strains of COVID. Shit is getting REAL out there.
- There is currently no plan to reopen indoor dining in NYC soon (https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/nyc-indoor-dining-not-safe-reopening-de-blasio-says)
- Timeline of restaurant closings shows initial shutdowns in mid-March with limited opening in late-September and another ban in December (to minimize a holiday peak) (https://ny.eater.com/2020/12/30/22203053/nyc-coronavirus-timeline-restaurants-bars-2020)
- Outdoor dining structure restrictions put in place + updated several times to provide more air flow (https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/counseltothemayor/downloads/indoor-dining-closure-faq-20201218.pdf / https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pedestrians/openrestaurants.shtml)
- Restaurants focused on moving business to surrounding areas (including JC) after NYC shutdowns (https://fortune.com/2020/12/16/restaurant-lockdown-new-york-city-new-jersey-connecticut-atlantic-city/)
General notes
- JC often referred to as the 6th NYC borough (https://jerseydigs.com/7-reasons-downtown-jersey-city-is-new-york-citys-best-waterfront-neighborhood/ / https://www.afar.com/magazine/jersey-city-is-a-must-from-nyc)
- JC and Hoboken are already seen as an alternative for New Yorkers looking to move to a more affordable area (https://patch.com/new-jersey/hoboken/thousand-new-yorkers-moved-hoboken-during-pandemic-report / https://newjersey.news12.com/report-new-yorkers-are-apparently-fleeing-to-new-jersey-to-escape-covid /
- The positives for restaurants gaining businesses should be compared to the cons of New Yorkers traveling into JC more often than usual (especially in terms of potential pandemic spread)
