Biggest NYC Chinese restaurant temporarily shuts down

KUALA LUMPUR (March 14): NYC’s largest Chinese restaurant, Jing Fong, has shut its doors at 20 Elizabeth Street amid the coronavirus health crisis, 6sqft reported yesterday.

The report citing the New York Post said the situation is two-fold for the iconic dim sum restaurant; not only is business down 30% to 40%, but since the restaurant has 800 seats, they fall under Governor Cuomo’s order that gatherings of 500 or more be shut down.

The effect of the pandemic has been especially hard for restaurants in Manhattan’s Chinatown, as well as those Chinatowns in Flushing and Sunset Park.

According to 6sqft, as soon as word got out, the rumor mill started that Jing Fong was closed for good.

Some are still speculating on its fate, though, as so much uncertainly looms around the pandemic.

Citing the New York Post again, it reported that some Chinese restaurants were seeing sales plummet by as much as 60%.

At the time, Jing Fong’s marketing director Claudia Leo told the Post that March events were down 75% compared to last year and business was down 50%.

Their second location on the Upper West Side saw sales dip 20% although this location is allowed to remain open.

“We can’t lay off anyone but we are reducing hours so people working six days a week might now be working three or four days a week,” Leo told the Post on March 2.

However, as things have gotten worse here in the city and worldwide, he and the team decided shuttering was “the best decision for everyone’s sake”, as he told the New York Post yesterday.

Leo noted that they considered reducing the seating to half its current capacity, as the Mayor has directed all restaurants and bars to do, but that they hope to “re-open when everything passes”.

Jing Fong's second location on the Upper West Side, saw business has dropped by only 20%, which signals that the issue is not so much people avoiding Chinese restaurants but avoiding the city’s various Chinatowns.

To that end, four of Sunset Park’s large dim sum parlors–East Harbor Seafood Palace, Bamboo Garden, Park Asia, and Affable–have also closed, reports Eater.

These types of large dim sum restaurants are getting hit even harder, as they by nature accommodate large crowds and often have communal tables.

On a more positive note, on Monday, the NYC Department of Small Business Services announced that “businesses with fewer than 100 employees who have seen sales decreases of 25% or more will be eligible for zero-interest loans of up to US$75,000 to help mitigate losses in profit” caused by COVID-19.

They are also offering businesses with fewer than five employees “a grant to cover 40% of payroll costs for two months to help retain employees.”