<ul><li><strong><keyword id="356967" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="rigi" source="Orion">Rigi</keyword> raised $25 million across three rounds conducted within the last 14 months.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>The startup helps creators and influencers grow, monetize and manage their content.<br /></strong></li><li><strong>The company plans to use the funds to expand into newer categories and geographies.<br /></strong></li></ul>Rigi, a platform which allows creators and influencers to manage and monetize their communities, said on Wednesday that it raised ₹100 crore. The startup calls it Series A extension round, and is led by Elevation Capital; with participation from Accel, Stellaris and <keyword id="270604" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sequoia" source="Orion">Sequoia</keyword> among others.<br /><br />Angel investors such as former cricketer <keyword id="10138" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mahendra-singh-dhoni" source="Orion">Mahendra Singh Dhoni</keyword>, Kunal Shah (founder of Cred), Amit Agarwal (founder of NoBroker), <keyword id="11361219" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="chakradhar-gade" source="Orion">Chakradhar Gade</keyword> (co-founder at <keyword id="7010225" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="country-delight" source="Orion">Country Delight</keyword>), <keyword id="13699074" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sharan-hegde" source="Orion">Sharan Hegde</keyword> ( CEO of The 1% Club) also invested in the round. <br /><br />Founded in 2021 by Swapnil Saurav and Ananya Singhal, Rigi focuses on knowledge creators in areas such as education, fitness, gaming etc. It provides them with an end-to-end ecosystem to manage their communities, with a focus on monetisation. It provides tools such as subscription management, courses, live workshops, paid one-to-one interactions and integration with social platforms. <br /><br />Rigi raised $25 million across three rounds in the last 14 months. It plans to use the latest funds raised to expand into newer categories and geographies.<br /><br />“Creator economy is a new paradigm of employment. It is here to stay in India, South East Asia, and globally. But this is a nascent ecosystem. All creators need tools to be more efficient and to grow. Rigi has created a world class suite of products that creates a 10X positive impact on the creator businesses,” Prayank Swaroop at Accel India said. <br /><br />Since its inception in October 2021, Rigi claims to have helped over 10,000 creators in over 30 categories. Recently, it also expanded to Indonesia.  <br /><br />“Knowledge creators in various fields, including education, health and fitness, skills training, and gaming are sought out by users for specialized advice on these topics. Users are now willing to pay these creators for personalized advice rather than relying on a generic, one-size-fits-all approach. Our goal is to support these creators in this aspect of their journey, so they can focus on what they do best: adding value to their audiences' lives,” Swapnil Saurav, co-founder of Rigi said. <br /><br />Globally, the creator economy is estimated to be worth over $100 billion, according to estimates provided by Rigi. <br /><br />"At Elevation, we have been firm believers of the growth potential of the creator economy as demonstrated by our past investments in companies such as Sharechat, <keyword id="16247668" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="turnip-and-headfone" source="Orion">Turnip and Headfone</keyword>. In just under two years of their existence, Rigi has enabled thousands of creators to become entrepreneurs — a testament to the unparalleled customer love they have received,” Mayank Khanduja, partner at Elevation Capital said. <br /><br />Ananya and Swapnil, both batchmates from BITS Pilani, had previously founded HalaPlay, which was acquired by <keyword id="125145" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nazara-technologies" source="Orion">Nazara Technologies</keyword> and Delta Corp in 2020. While working with social media influencers at HalaPlay, they recognized the growing presence of online creators and the potential of influencers' communities, which led them to establish Rigi. <br /><br />SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/iit-startup-solinas-integrity-working-to-end-manual-scavenging-in-india-wins-big-on-shark-tank/articleshow/97296983.cms">The IIT-Startup working to end manual scavenging in India wins big on Shark Tank</a><br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/list-of-top-20-richest-people-in-the-world/amp_articleshow/74475220.cms">Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani &amp; more - World’s Top 20 richest people - Business Insider India</a>

Rigi raises ₹100 cr from Elevation Capital, MS Dhoni, Cred’s Kunal Shah & more

<p class="drop-cap">The bars and restaurants that put the glint on New York City never stopped partying.</p><p>While the rest of the country — businesses, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-sp500-recession-earnings-unemployment-jobs-report-nylife-2023-6">investors</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-recession-is-61-likely-for-2023-economists-warn-2023-1">economists</a>, regular people — misspent 2023 in a state of anxiety, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-recession-stock-market-crash-calls-wrong-economy-housing-2023-6">waiting for a recession</a> that never came, the bastions of New York City's dining elite came out of the pandemic louder, prouder, and more extravagant than ever.</p><p>Here, it's ancient Rome. And if New York City has a legalized form of popular bloodsport, it's the restaurant business.</p><p>To dine at the most sought-after restaurants is an exercise in one's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-most-popular-restaurants-dinner-nyc-resy-ranking-2020-1">capacity to tolerate rejection</a>. In old New York, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/resy-sevenrooms-premium-restaurant-experiences-reserved-for-high-paying-diners-2023-5">money and cache</a> were the currencies that could, eventually, find you a seat wherever you wanted. But the internet and reservation apps like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/resy-wrapped-end-year-review-went-really-wrong-2023-12">Resy</a> have removed person-to-person contact in these bookings and turned scoring a coveted table into the <a target="_blank" href="https://ny.eater.com/2022/2/15/22910632/free-rezy-reservation-booking-telegram-group-manhattan-restaurants-nyc">shortest video game ever played</a>. Status still talks, but tech nerds who've programmed bots to crawl for reservations have added a disconcerting new layer. Recently, I met a man who has a constant crawl for a five-person table at a chic new restaurant. He was very proud of himself for this. I was not.</p><p>The surge of demand doesn't mean everything has been easy. Food prices have risen steadily, the hot job market has made workers hard to find and keep, and, of course, there's the inexorable rise of New York City rents. Yet new restaurants have kept coming. And not just any restaurants — luxurious, maximalist restaurants with ingredients as international as the city itself.</p><p>The new wave of eateries is also a stark contrast to the previous era of NYC dining. After the financial crisis, the city put on a black turtleneck à la Steve Jobs and presented everything with clean lines and prized understatement. Now it's returned to something that looks more like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-photos-how-americas-rich-tycoons-lived-during-gilded-age-2023-3">the Gilded Age</a> — a maximalist mob-wife aesthetic that orders "more with a side of much more." The city's bars have gone rococo as well. Is there a greater vote of confidence in New York's economic recovery than opening a tiki bar that feels like a dive, hangs florals like a wedding at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/grand-prospect-hall-commercial-2011-1">Grand Prospect Hall</a>, and asks people to pay $25 for a cocktail called "Tarman"?</p><p>Beneath the city's shimmering victory over the pandemic and dining's glorious return as Gotham's favorite pastime, there's still a great divide between <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/poverty-statistics-new-york-city-most-millionaires-2024-2">the haves and the have-nots</a>. As the pandemic emergency abated, our weird new economy revealed the dramatic difference between Americans who feel they can handle an inflationary shock and those who cannot. So it makes sense that Manhattan, where the income gap is greater than any other county in the country, has been the vanguard of this American vibe revolution. It is a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-living-nyc-millionaires-wealth-tax-2023-12">granite island of hungry rich people</a> looking for something to do — Wall Street bankers, tech executives, generationally wealthy people, the famous and beautiful. In a country roiled by recession worries, those at the top of New York City — for better or worse — couldn't give a single gilded shit.</p><h2>The Big Apple bites back</h2><p>Opening a new business anywhere is an act of hope. Opening a restaurant even more so. Opening a restaurant in New York City requires the faith of a medieval saint. For an industry that already existed on a knife's edge, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-restaurants-are-struggling-2020-12">pandemic looked like it could be a catastrophic blow</a>. Were it not for delivery apps, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/open-streets-new-york-city-increased-spending-businesses-fifth-avenue-2023-10">creative outdoor seating</a>, and many New Yorkers' stubborn resistance to learning to use their apartment kitchens, we might have lost even more of our eateries than we did. In this town, an unlisted, unmarked, hole-in-the-wall serving top-flight Xinjiang noodles can be every bit a destination as Tavern on the Green — and the food will probably be better. Even with this chaos, New York is a city that embraces bizarre circumstances, and when the pandemic took hold, that became its superpower.</p><p>"I think the city and New Yorkers are so different and so unfazed by it. Remember when there were a million people eating outside?" Jennifer Saesue, a Manhattan restaurateur, said.</p><p>Saesue opened her first restaurant, Fish Cheeks, in 2017, and before long, it became a staple for the downtown set. During the pandemic, Fish Cheeks survived as other restaurants did — ramping up takeout and setting up outdoor seating. Saesue said that after a lull during lockdowns, its revenue clicked back into the normal cycle of the city's restaurant business: a slow start to the year, a busy spring, a slower summer, and then full-on mania starting in the fall and through the holiday season.</p>      <blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-breakout">        <q class="pullquote-quotation">There are new, hot restaurants opening every freaking week.</q>              </blockquote>    <p>Since then, New Yorkers staved off recession fears by simply <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-is-back-comeback-economic-recovery-reopening-2021-5">spending like it would never come </a>— especially on food, drinks, and entertainment. By the end of March 2023, nightlife spending reached 11% above pre-pandemic levels, a report from Mastercard found. It's not hard to understand why. Few people in the country lived as cramped an existence through the pandemic as New Yorkers did. Once it was over, they bet everything on the return of the institutions that form the backbone of the city's culture. The rest of the country could keep their weak vibes. For New York City, a brush with death called for a time of decadence.</p><p>"I feel like we are back to where we were pre-pandemic. Now more than ever, people are spending, and even more so, restaurants are opening back up," Saesue told me. "There are new, hot restaurants opening every freaking week."</p><p>So that's what the city's doing now. Get into it. Clubsteraunts are back, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cook-chef-manager-amusement-parks-gen-z-attendant-experience-economy2023-11">Gen Z</a> — a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-worried-gen-z-doesnt-have-fun-2023-12">generation that claims to dislike fun</a> — can be seen there in full force. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.grubstreet.com/article/best-nyc-restaurants-2023-wild-creative-ambition-is-back.html">city's bistros have met this enthusiasm</a> by upping their game. Chefs in New York have somehow yassified hard-boiled eggs, and LCD Soundsystem's frontman James Murphy has a restaurant that's selling them for $25. Naturally, those eggs have caviar on them. There's caviar everywhere. At Coqodaq, a just-opened Korean fried chicken restaurant that looks like a Las Vegas church, you can order a perfectly crisped nugget with caviar on it. It will cost you $28 and whatever it takes you to get through a meal while watching packs of TikTok food influencers completely lose their minds.</p><p>As the kids might say, "Nature is healing." The city's affluent consists of the same Wall Street workhorses, fashion and public-relations power brokers, trust-fund babies (American and foreign), chic people, quasi-creatives of advertising, total nerds of tech, and straight-up, never-sleeping hustlers — but their tastes have changed. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-members-only-nyc-social-club-zero-bond-9000-waitlist-2021-12">Members-only social clubs</a> and restaurants abound. The new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aman-club-private-members-club-nyc-photo-tour-2024-2">Aman New York has a private club</a> with a $200,000 initiation fee, and the boys who brought us Carbone have a private restaurant called ZZ's with a $20,000 initiation fee and $10,000 annual membership. There are the Casas — Cruz and Cipriani (both private clubs, no relation) — and the old mainstay Soho House, which has expanded to three locations in the city. Private clubs delineating the space between the haves and the have-nots were a feature of the first Gilded Age. Here we are again, except now the most sought-after restaurants can function almost as exclusively as clubs — know someone, wait for hours, game the digital-reservation system, beg (maybe) — and then maybe you'll get a seat at a decent time to eat, like 9:30 p.m. (if you're lucky) or 5:30 p.m. (if you've given up on fun).</p>      <blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-right">        <q class="pullquote-quotation">It doesn't seem like people are thinking about the recession that much. I think they're talking about it, but their behavior doesn't say that.</q>              </blockquote>    <p>Saesue opened her second concept, Bangkok Supper Club, in the West Village in 2023. It was immediately met with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/dining/restaurant-review-bangkok-supper-club.html">critical acclaim</a> and the kind of success that makes getting a reservation an only-in-NYC kind of status symbol.</p><p>"Looking from where I am," Saesue told me, "it doesn't seem like people are thinking about the recession that much. I think they're talking about it, but their behavior doesn't say that."</p><p>A city is lucky if it has two or three dining rooms ethereal enough to transport you to a world in which everything you see or touch is precious. In the past few years, New York has opened them at a steady clip. Most recently, the famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten opened Four Twenty-Five on Park Avenue, where it feels like you are dining on a crystal cloud. It's a place to watch a very classic uptown New York City crowd — an older set of ultraprofessionals, mom and dad on date night, women who have enough money but too much self-awareness to be on "Real Housewives," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-lincoln-center-fundraiser-steve-cohen-new-york-2024-3">money managers drinking</a> at the gorgeous bar after a late night at the office (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-hamptons-party-return-office-recession-stock-market-worries-2023-7">yes, they're going to the office</a>). For these people, there must be elegance at all times.</p><p>Not all of NYC nightlife is focused on making things fancy; some of it is just theatrical and fun. In the East Village, Paradise Lost transports patrons to a tiki bar located on a choppy beach near the capitol of Hell. It works because the drinks are a full-on show. The Saturn, a vintage gin cocktail that won the 1967 IBA championship, comes smoking with dry ice. And if you order the Lady of the Beasts, you'll experience what the bar calls "fire and show." Bongo drums will ring out through the bar, and your server will present the cocktail to you in a dazzle of flames. The Lady is just one of a few cocktails on the menu that come with all of that drama. If there is a hard landing for the US economy, NYC will have to meet it with a bit of a hangover. After what the city went through, it will have been worth it.</p><h2>The full vibespace</h2><p>A survey of New York City's most glimmering restaurants and competitive cocktailers is, of course, an incomplete picture of how the city is recovering. The pandemic was a violent lesson in how an inflationary shock impacts the affluent much less than everyone else. And that makes for complex vibes.</p><p>According to a report from TouchBistro, a company that provides point-of-sales services to restaurants, NYC restaurant margins averaged around 9.2% in 2023, down from 10.1% a year in 2022 and just below the national average of 9.3%. Food operators said they spent 43% more on food costs in 2023 than they did in 2022, the highest jump in the country. And while <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/january-jobs-report-labor-market-good-economy-inflation-wages-2024-2">employers in other parts of the economy </a>are regaining the upper hand, staff turnover at NYC restaurants was around 31% in 2023. The national average turnover rate sat at 28%. Every restaurant is facing these issues, but businesses' ability to deal with increasing costs — while holding onto customers — varies greatly. A December survey from the New York City Hospitality Alliance found that while 37% of respondents felt positive about future business revenue, 30% percent of respondents were feeling pessimistic about the future, and another 20% felt uncertain.</p><p>"New York City's restaurants and bars are experiencing an uneven pandemic recovery nearly four years after COVID-19 struck our city," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, said. "While some have recovered, others still struggle."</p><p>The restaurant industry is a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-losing-rental-housing-crisis-combine-apartments-2023-10">mirror of the city</a>. The haves are being delighted in new dining rooms and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-home-250-million-nyc-penthouse-central-park-tower-2022-9">glittering new high-rises</a>. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/median-wage-people-leaving-nyc-financial-pipe-dream-2023-12">have-nots are experiencing</a> the trauma of a record number of evictions, especially in Brooklyn and The Bronx, and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-rent-keeps-hitting-record-highs-despite-migration-from-city-2023-8">squeeze of record-high rents</a>. No one seems to have an answer for New York's housing crisis, where rental vacancies dropped to 1.4% in 2023 — a healthy rate is considered somewhere between 5% and 8%.</p><p>Nationwide, in the aggregate, restaurants are growing. Sales reached a seasonally-adjusted rate of $95.01 billion in January, up 0.7% from December and the 11th month of consecutive growth. But that doesn't mean the mood is great: 97% of restaurant owners are worried about higher food costs, according to a survey from the National Restaurant Association, and 38% say they didn't make money last year. That's a lot of have-nots. In a moment when food prices are volatile at best and workers are hard to come by, most of the restaurant industry has to make hard decisions. As <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-america-eating-out-crisis-your-fault-labor-shortage-tipping-2024-2">Corey Mintz argued</a> in this very publication, we may hate what it takes to save restaurants — more self-service, higher prices — but we may not have a choice. I don't care how many times the Nasdaq punches new highs — this does not make for good vibes.</p>      <blockquote class="pullquote-wrapper pullquote-breakout">        <q class="pullquote-quotation">The city's last Gilded Age was as much a time of growth and vitality as it was a time of corruption and inequality.</q>              </blockquote>    <p>Restaurants are pinched, in part, because their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-youre-still-spending-much-of-your-budget-on-food-2024-2">patrons are pinched</a>, too. Yes, the rest of the country is starting to see what New York City has been seeing: The worst is over. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-confidence-economy-stock-market-gas-prices-eggs-vibes-recession-2024-1">University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index</a> showed significant improvement over the past two months, and the outlook for inflation continues to improve. This is fantastic news for the country, but as analysts at UBS pointed out in a recent note to clients, just because we're not feeling bad doesn't mean we necessarily feel good.</p><p>"These are encouraging developments and sentiment should continue to improve as disinflation progresses, the Fed cuts rates and real incomes keep rising," the UBS analysts wrote. "In short, the vibecession for the public at large may be over, but the vibespansion has a long way to go."</p><p>Inflation hurts everyone, but it is catastrophic for people who are just getting by — or just starting to save a little bit. In an extremely cringeworthy interview, WK Kellogg CEO Gary Pilnick seemed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kelloggs-cereal-for-dinner-meal-backlash-price-inflation-pilnick-money-2024-2">excited</a> when he said his company's cereal-for-dinner messaging was "landing really well."</p><p>"Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more on trend now, and we would expect to continue as that consumer is under pressure," he said. Since 1978, CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460%, thanks mostly to stock-based compensation. When prices go up dramatically, those who can afford it may see it and know it, but they don't feel it. Those who can't, apparently, make Gary Pilnick's day.</p><p>If a pandemic can't defeat New York City, a little inflation certainly isn't going to do it. What it will do, though, is reveal the structural weaknesses in our society. The city's last Gilded Age was as much a time of growth and vitality as it was a time of corruption and inequality. It was a warning for this town and the whole country. Watching post-pandemic inflation at work is a warning, too. It showed what it looks like when this American economy experiences a short, sharp shock. And what that looks like is the affluent in New York City eating caviar, and poorer Americans eating cereal.</p><hr /><p><a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/linette-lopez"><em><u>Linette Lopez</u></em></a><em> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.</em></p>

Louder, prouder, and more extravagant than ever: Welcome to the Decadent Age of New York City nightlife

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Glasses and silverware go missing all the time at restaurants — often at the hands of customers.</li><li>Now, TikTokers are posting videos of themselves appearing to steal coveted items from eateries.</li></ul><p>Sticky-fingered diners have a long history of swiping irresistible, and often collectible, tableware from restaurants but a TikTok trend is bringing the petty crimes to light.</p><p>"You're coming home with me," TikTok creator and YouTuber Chris Klemens can be heard saying <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisklemens/video/6975018806494104838" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in a 2021 video</a> where he reaches his hand out to grab a tiny three-tine fork, known as a 'threek,' in what appears to be a busy restaurant. Klemens did not respond to Insider's request for comment.</p><p>"I am home and the fork is secured," the caption reads. </p><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisklemens/video/6975018806494104838" data-video-id="6975018806494104838" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;"> <section> <a target="_blank" title="@chrisklemens" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisklemens?refer=embed">@chrisklemens</a> <p>i am home and the fork is secured</p> <a target="_blank" title="♬ chrisklemens youre coming home with me - Chris Klemens" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/chrisklemens-youre-coming-home-with-me-6975019209361296134?refer=embed">♬ chrisklemens youre coming home with me - Chris Klemens</a> </section> </blockquote> <p>The audio quickly became popular. There are around 150,000 videos online that use Klemen's original audio, many of which show restaurant patrons swiping <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@haleydito/video/7009469698093960453?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7226563250782340650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cute cocktail glasses,</a> a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@klaperoniandcheese/video/7006474239347805445?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7226563250782340650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fancy pizza server,</a> or <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kepalikepeppa/video/7021648475012058373?is_from_webapp=1&amp;sender_device=pc&amp;web_id=7226563250782340650" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unique utensils </a>from restaurants while lip-syncing "You're coming home with me."</p><p>There's no way to tell whether the posters are in fact stealing these items or just kidding (in some videos, in fact, posters <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bellarozez/video/7042486276003581189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clarify</a> that they did not steal the items). </p><p>Restaurant owners told Insider that customers who deploy the five-finger discount have been around for as long as they can remember but TikTok has given people an opportunity to share their exploits. </p><p>"'I'm sure this TikTok trend will inspire more cutlery kleptos and glassware thieves," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, told Insider. </p><p>"People think it's funny or cute, but for the most part these are small business owners struggling to recover from the pandemic," he said, adding that missing glassware and decor is unfortunately a common — and fairly accepted — part of running a business. </p><p>When Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge attraction opened in 2019, theme park visitors stole futuristic looking sporks from one of the themed restaurants. Many of them were found online, selling for as much as $80, <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2020/01/27/stolen-star-wars-sporks-return-to-disneyland-and-you-can-get-one-for-a-price/#:~:text=The%20space%20sporks%20that%20scoundrels,the%20Star%20Wars%2Dthemed%20restaurant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Orange County Register.</a> Eater has a story entitled <a href="https://dc.eater.com/2023/6/15/23758712/customers-stealing-dc-restaurants-barware" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Why Are Customers Stealing So Much Shit From D.C. Restaurants?"</a> An article from <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/do-not-steal-from-restaurants-6825513" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Food &amp; Wine</a> calls restaurant customers "a notoriously thieving bunch." </p><div type="image" title="Glasses branded with the Chapman Crafted Beer &amp; Coffee logo" height="720" width="960" msid="101238633" hostid="261" sizebytes="25644"></div><p>Wil Dee, a 26-year restaurant veteran in Southern California, said for as long as he can remember, diners have been swiping everything from copper Moscow mule mugs to steak knives from his bars and restaurants. </p><p>"It's the nature of the business," said Dee, founder and CEO of Haven Craft Kitchen + Bar and founding partner of Chapman Crafted Beer &amp; Coffee in Orange, California.</p><p>And it comes at a cost. Dee estimates that his restaurants lose about $10,000 annually from customers who can't resist smuggling tulip-shaped beer glasses, charcuterie boards, plates, and cutlery. A nice plate can cost $50, he said. </p><p>One time he caught a diner in the act, and told them: "Would you mind leaving that mug in your purse on the table when you leave?"</p><div type="image" title="Loulou Petit Bistro is a French bistro located in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan." height="1269" width="1284" msid="101238635" hostid="261" sizebytes="328172"></div><p>Dee hadn't seen the viral TikTok video. He said these trending videos pose a challenge for restaurants because they are promoting a crime. "This is what's wrong with social media."</p><p>Mathias Van Leyden, owner of Loulou Petit Bistro, which opened in Manhattan in 2019, told Insider he's had to train servers to take certain cocktail glasses back to the kitchen as soon as they're empty because otherwise they disappear. </p><p>"People just take stuff. It's sad because we have to always get new stuff and it makes the place not as nice for the next people who visit us. And it's just kind of annoying that we have to replace stuff all the time," he said.</p><p>Diners at his restaurant are paying the price for these bad players. Van Leyden said that he's resorted to charging $1 to $2 more per drink to offset the high cost of losing so many glasses so often. In fact, he keeps a stash of the most popular glasses close by so they're never caught in a pinch. </p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Co7nj-koe1Q/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Co7nj-koe1Q/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewbox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631" /></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div></div></a><p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Co7nj-koe1Q/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Loulou NYC  (@loulou.nyc)</a></p></div></blockquote> <p>"I actually have to stock them in my apartment," he told Insider. "When they're low, I bring them straight from my apartment to the restaurant, which is a block away." </p><p>Some restaurant owners are trying to look at the bright side. </p><div type="image" title="Mission Group's Royal Sands cocktail glass" height="682" width="1024" msid="101238638" hostid="261" sizebytes="32512"></div><p>Fritz Brogan, managing partner of a Washington, DC-based hospitality company called Mission Group, told Insider he thinks of people taking glassware from Mission's bars as a form of marketing. In fact, he calls it "five-finger marketing."</p><p>"I'm an optimist, so I always try to find the positive in everything," Brogan said. "I think we look at every problem as sort of, how do we turn this into a solution and how do we drive revenue and business out of this?"</p><p>He said that as a result, his newest bar, Royal Sands Social Club, designed its glassware knowing that it might end up in people's home bars or cabinets. Occasionally, he said, he's even seen people post videos of house parties where, in the background, he can see partiers drinking out of one of his bar's glasses. </p>

A TikTok craze has people stealing dishes and glasses from restaurants, and it's revealing a long history of sticky-fingered diners

<ul><li><strong>France-based extramarital dating app <keyword id="4031884" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="gleeden" source="Orion">Gleeden</keyword> claimed 20% of its 10 million users were from <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="Orion">India</keyword>. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>The number of Indians on the app increased by 11% from September 2022. <br /></strong></li><li><strong>As of 2018, India ranked 10th among 53 countries in members on <keyword id="1492061" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="ashley-madison" source="Orion">Ashley Madison</keyword> – a Canadian extramarital dating app.</strong></li></ul>It’s been decades since Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona hit the theatres, ruffled feathers and raised eyebrows — and centuries since the French came up with <em>ménage à trois. </em>Now, of course, throuples and open marriages have become frequent if not common, showing that modern love can and does traverse beyond the boundaries that traditional marriage sets. <br /><br />India too seems to, at least unofficially, be taking the not-so-off-beaten path. According to multiple <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/extramarital-dating-app-gleeden-claims-20-users-from-india/articleshow/97044982.cms">reports, </a>there are as many as 2 million Indian users on the France-based extramarital dating app, Gleeden — that’s 20% of its 10 million users. The post-pandemic effect has also done wonders for the traffic as the number of Indian users increased in January 2023 by 11% from September 2022.<br /><br />The app which launched in 2009, <a href="https://yourstory.com/herstory/2022/06/extra-marital-dating-app-gleeden-popular-india">appeared </a>in the Indian market in 2017. This was just a year before the Supreme Court scrapped section 497 and ruled that adultery was no longer a crime. It however did say that it’s a civil offense that could be grounds for divorce. The five-judge Constitution Bench stated that the colonial-era law is unconstitutional and discriminatory against women. <br /><br />At the time, Gleeden already had <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/how-infidelity-thrives-in-the-age-of-internet/articleshow/65997155.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst&amp;pcode=461">3.5 lakh Indian users</a>, with Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru emerging as the top cities. In 2023, the number stands at 20 lakh. Gleeden reported that 66% of the new users on the app <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/extramarital-dating-app-gleeden-claims-20-users-from-india/articleshow/97044982.cms">came </a>from tier-1 cities, with the rest from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. <br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="So why extra-marital affairs?" comment="subhead2" text="So why extra-marital affairs?"><span data-til="noop">So why extra-marital affairs? <br /></span></cmsannotation><br /><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/why-couples-commit-infidelity-survey-finds-four-major-reasons/articleshow/91742469.cms">Gleeden </a>did a survey in 2022 to understand infidelity. The most common reason for it is boredom (63%). A distant second is the naturalization of infidelity (20%), partner conflicts (10%), and falling in love with a third person (8%). <br /><br />Dr Mimansa Singh Tanwar, lead clinical psychologist, Fortis Hospitals Bangalore told Business Insider India that different reasons could drive people to pursue an extramarital relationship. <br /><br />According to her, the most common reason is “a difficult or struggling marriage, with increasingly dysfunctional communication patterns that lead to lack of communication, a greater sense of physical or emotional dissatisfaction, or the inability to develop a sense of connection with a spouse.”<br /><br />Kelly Campbell, Ph.D., professor of psychology at California State University, San Bernardino <a href="https://www.brides.com/why-do-people-cheat-5112047">said, </a>“Researchers find that partnerships characterized by dissatisfaction, unfulfilling sex, and high conflict are at higher risk for infidelity. The more dissimilar partners are—in terms of personality, education level, and other factors—the more likely they are to experience infidelity."<br /><br />In a world where dating mostly takes place online, even extramarital affairs are not left to chance encounters. People go seeking love or excitement beyond their marriage in a seemingly safe space – which apps like Gleeden claim to offer. <br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="An affair that an app remembers…" comment="subhead2" text="An affair that an app remembers…"><span data-til="noop">An affair that an app remembers…<br /></span></cmsannotation><br />Available in <a href="https://en.gleeden.com/map/">over 150 countries</a>, Gleeden positions itself as a “dating site for discreet encounters for married individuals”. Its four pillars of quality are stated as security, anonymity, quality, and freedom. The site <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/5-lakh-indians-swarm-extra-marital-dating-app-gleeden-30-are-women-ians-special-119022400262_1.html">claims </a>to have moderators operating 24x7 to investigate fake profiles, and/or indecent and provocative chats and photos. <br /><br />However, there are much more provocative sites like Ashley Madison, a Canadian site that claims to offer ‘married dating’. Its slogan is, “Life is short. Have an affair.” <br /><br />Dr Tanwar says that there could be instances when people seek out an affair, even when things are going okay in their relationship, especially when what we see around us normalizes the idea of an affair. The rising number of apps, be it Madison, amoure.in, HushAffair, show a sense of push factor for those who want to try it.<br /><br />Even before Madison came under hackers’ lens in 2015, it has been accused of many questionable practices. Madison is known to ‘not allow’ users to delete their accounts, and promote fake accounts. After Madison’s data leak, reports surfaced of users being threatened with extortion. <br /><br />An <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/ashley-madison-hack-just-three-in-every-10-000-female-accounts-on-infidelity-website-are-real-10475310.html">analysis </a>of the leaked data also revealed that only three in every 10,000 Ashley Madison members were real women, exposing the widespread number of fake female accounts on the website. And yet, as of 2018, India <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/how-infidelity-thrives-in-the-age-of-internet/articleshow/65997155.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&amp;utm_medium=text&amp;utm_campaign=cppst&amp;pcode=461">ranked 10th </a>among 53 countries in membership on Ashley Madison.<br /><br />While most affairs in general carry a risk, an app and an online trail make it riskier. In addition, experts also say that extra-marital affairs are heavy on the heart, no matter how breezy they may appear to be. <br /><br />“Even if you’re seeking thrill, excitement, or happiness, and whether it’s short-lived or happens multiple times, it will impact the individual - because of the juggling one has to do. The fact that you have to balance something outside of your work and family tends to create stress and anxiety. And that’s something we tend to overlook when getting into these affairs because it’s giving you a thrill, adventure, or momentary happiness,” added Dr Tanwar. <strong><br /><br />SEE ALSO: <br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/rigi-raises-100-cr-from-elevation-capital-ms-dhoni-creds-kunal-shah-more/articleshow/97311322.cms">Rigi raises ₹100 cr from Elevation Capital, MS Dhoni, Cred’s Kunal Shah &amp; more</a><br /></strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/from-ray-to-rajamouli-a-look-at-indian-movies-makers-that-made-waves-internationally/slidelist/97306987.cms"><strong>From Ray to Rajamouli: a look at Indian movies &amp; makers that made waves internationally</strong></a><br /><br />

Everything to know about Gleeden, the extra-marital dating app where 20% users are Indians

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A survey of over 450 <keyword id="72226" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York-City">New York City</keyword> <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword>, bars, and nightclubs found that 87% of them couldn't pay their full <keyword id="6361997" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="rent">rent</keyword> in August, and that figure has only increased since June and July.</li><li>Currently, NYC restaurants are open for <keyword id="596514" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="outdoor-dining">outdoor dining</keyword>, and they will be allowed to reopen for 25% capacity <keyword id="9499559" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="indoor-dining">indoor dining</keyword> on September 30.</li><li>But experts have already told Business Insider reporters that that reduced capacity opening won't be enough to save restaurants.</li><li>Some advocates, including members of the city council, want to extend outdoor dining permanently on a seasonal basis, and longer into the winter.</li></ul><p>A <a href="https://thenycalliance.org/assets/documents/informationitems/5Mm2P.pdf">new report from the NYC Hospitality Alliance</a> found that 87% of restaurants couldn't pay their full rent in August — an increase from both June and July. </p><p>The group surveyed over 450 restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Of those surveyed, only 40% have had their rent waived during the pandemic.</p><p>New York City restaurants were ordered <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-restaurant-workers-coronavirus-unemployment-2020-3">to halt dining service on March 17</a>. Outdoor dining <a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/06/phase-2-nyc-reopening-restaurants-outdoor-dining.html">could reopen on June 22, around three months later</a>.</p><p>As <a href="https://ny.eater.com/2020/9/22/21450857/outdoor-dining-permanent-legislation-nyc">Eater NY reports</a>, the outdoor dining program in the city is currently set to end on October 31 — although some NYC Council members have introduced a bill that would make it permanent, including throughout the winter.</p><p>Mayor Bill de Blasio has already said that outdoor dining will return in 2021, and that it could become a permanent seasonal fixture. Some NYC restaurateurs will march on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on September 28, calling for an outdoor dining extension and higher-capacity indoor dining, <a href="https://ny.eater.com/2020/9/15/21436095/nyc-outdoor-dining-permanent-mayor-de-blasio">according to Eater</a>.</p><p>Eater has also <a href="https://ny.eater.com/2020/5/8/21248604/nyc-restaurant-closings-coronavirus">been tracking permanent restaurant closures</a> in the city throughout the pandemic. In the most recent update, more than a dozen restaurants announced they were closing their doors.</p><p>Indoor dining is set to open at 25% capacity on September 30. Even with that reduced capacity, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-restaurants-reopen-dining-rooms-not-enough-2020-9">experts told Business Insider's Kate Taylor and Irene Jiang</a>, won't be enough to save the city's restaurants.</p><p>"Even with 100% occupancy before the pandemic, it was already very difficult to survive as a restaurant in New York City," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, told Taylor and Jiang.</p><p>In a statement to Business Insider, Rigie said that "approximately 150,000 industry workers are still out of their jobs, and the overwhelming majority of these remaining small businesses cannot afford to pay rent.</p><p>"The hospitality industry is essential to New York's economic and social fabric, and to ensure the survival of these vital small businesses and jobs, we urgently need rent relief, an indefinite extension of outdoor dining, a roadmap for expanded indoor dining, covered business interruption insurance and immediate passage of the Restaurants Act by Congress."</p>

Even with outdoor dining, 87% of NYC restaurants couldn't pay their full rent in August

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> is allowing indoor dining to reopen at 25% capacity, but experts say it won't be enough to save <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword>.</li><li>Most restaurants operate on razor-thin margins, and barely eke out a profit even at 100% capacity, Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York Hospitality Alliance, told Business Insider.</li><li>Experts and analysts say that sit-down restaurants won't be able to generate pre-pandemic levels of sales until a vaccine arrives.</li><li>Meanwhile, many independent restaurant owners say they need financial aid from the government in order to survive.</li><li>"It literally makes no sense to put my life at risk and my staff members at risk for 12 people to come and dine," said Amanda Cohen, the owner of Dirt Candy restaurant in <keyword id="72226" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="New-York-City">New York City</keyword>, told Business Insider.</li></ul><p>New York City restaurants are finally going to be allowed to reopen dining rooms. But experts and insiders say that the new measure is not enough to save the industry from a looming apocalypse. </p><p>On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the state would allow indoor dining to resume at 25% capacity in New York City starting September 30. Restaurants will have to comply with rules such as checking patron temperatures, banning bar service and service after midnight, requiring one person in every party to provide contact info, and enhancing air ventilation and filtration. </p><p>Cuomo's announcement came after 300 restaurateurs <a href="https://ny.eater.com/2020/9/1/21408660/300-restaurateurs-sue-nyc-over-indoor-dining-ban">filed</a> a class-action lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and Mayor De Blasio, seeking $2 billion in damages and demanding that restaurants be allowed to reopen dining rooms.</p><p>However, experts say that indoor dining at 25% won't be enough to ensure New York City's restaurants survive the pandemic. The vast majority of restaurants operate on razor-thin margins, meaning that most do not turn a profit unless the dining room is full or almost full. </p><p>Amanda Cohen, the owner of Dirt Candy, a restaurant in New York's Lower East Side, told Business Insider that she's skeptical of the benefits of reopening dining rooms at 25% capacity. For her 75-person restaurant, a 25% capacity limit would mean she'd only be able to serve 12 guests at a time, when accounting for about six staff members.</p><p>"It literally makes no sense to put my life at risk and my staff members at risk for 12 people to come and dine at Dirt Candy," Cohen said. "I'm going to have increased costs and I'm not going to be able to make that much more money." </p><p>"Getting 25% indoor occupancy with a blueprint to get to 50% is important, but it's not going to save restaurants," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, told Business Insider. "Even with 100% occupancy before the pandemic, it was already very difficult to survive as a restaurant in New York City."</p><p>Reopening dining rooms also brings new costs, as restaurants hire more workers and install new safety features. Most restaurants will still have to pay 100% of their bills, such as rent. With the preexisting and added costs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-chains-turn-to-drive-thru-during-pandemic-2020-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">industry expert John Gordon told Business Insider</a> that some restaurants could ultimately lose money if they reopen dining rooms at a limited capacity.</p><p>"We're still being hung out to dry," Cohen said, adding that restaurants need federal aid to make it through the pandemic.</p><p>Many independent restaurant owners, including Cohen, are urging Congress to pass the <a href="https://restaurantsact.com/">RESTAURANTS Act</a>, which would provide restaurants with $120 billion in recovery funds. Rigie is also a supporter of the RESTAURANTS Act, and argues that restaurants ultimately need financial intervention from the government in order to stay afloat.</p><p>In the meantime, Cohen asks for sympathy from her customers. "Every single one of us is struggling. We all want to serve our customers, but we also have to serve our staff, and this has put us in a really hard place."</p><p>The only thing that will really fix the restaurant industry is the elimination of COVID. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-recovery-moves-at-lumbering-pace-without-indoor-dining-2020-8">As Gordon Haskett analyst Jeff Farmer said in a research note in August,</a> only news of a vaccine could actually allow sit-down restaurants' sales to approach pre-pandemic levels. </p><p>Experts say that while outdoor dining has helped boost sales at some sit-down restaurants seeking ways to safely serve customers, colder weather is set to add new additional complications.</p><p>"Winter is coming,"  <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-recovery-moves-at-lumbering-pace-without-indoor-dining-2020-8">said Robert Rattet, an attorney who specializes in bankruptcies</a>. "Without a vaccine, you'll have more closures."</p>

New York City is allowing indoor dining to reopen at 25% capacity, but experts say it isn't enough to save restaurants

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Spending at big restaurant chains is up 2%, while sales at small chains and independent restaurants are still down 15%, according to a Bank of America report.</li><li>A big chunk of the gap can be explained by the fact that chains are more likely to own fast-food and fast-casual locations, many of which built thriving drive-thru and to-go businesses before the pandemic, the report said. </li><li>Chains including <keyword id="597891" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dunkin">Dunkin</keyword>', <keyword id="319716" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chipotle">Chipotle</keyword>, and Domino's are already planning to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pandemic-paves-way-to-chains-to-swallow-up-independent-restaurants-2020-8">buy up real estate occupied by struggling restaurants</a>.</li></ul><p>Sales are returning to pre-pandemic levels at chain restaurants across the US. Independent restaurants are not as lucky.</p><p>Spending at big restaurant chains is up 2% through the week of August 22, according to a new report from Bank of America. Meanwhile, sales at small chains and independent restaurants remain down 15%.</p><p>Much of the gap can be explained by the fact that fast-food and fast-casual restaurants are more likely to be owned by larger chains, while dine-in restaurants are more likely to be independently owned, the report said. During the pandemic, restaurants focused on dine-in customers have struggled far more than locations that already had thriving drive-thru and delivery businesses.</p><p>Other advantages enjoyed by chains include "scale, access to capital, and years of technology investments," according to the report. </p><p>The disparity between chains and independent restaurants represents a significant improvement from past Bank of America reports this year. In mid-April, there was a percentage-point difference of more than 30 in year-over-year sales performance. Bank of America estimated sales at chains and independent restaurants by analyzing customers' aggregated credit- and debit-card data.</p><h2>Chains are preparing to 'swallow up' independent restaurants </h2><div type="image" title="chains taking over independent restaurants 4x3" height="1800" width="2400" msid="77936883" hostid="261"></div><p>Bank of America said it expected some full-service restaurants to shut down permanently during the pandemic, which could boost sales at well-positioned sit-down chains such as Olive Garden's parent company, Darden, in the long term. As mom-and-pop restaurants shut down, customers will end up eating at chains that survive the pandemic more often, when they feel safe to dine out once again. </p><p>Chains including Dunkin', Chipotle, and Domino's have already started scoping out real estate occupied by doomed restaurants, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pandemic-paves-way-to-chains-to-swallow-up-independent-restaurants-2020-8">Business Insider reported last month</a>.</p><p>"The pandemic is going to result in many vacant restaurant spaces around the city, which will provide an opportunity for better-capitalized restaurant companies to swoop in and take over these spaces if they see a good business opportunity," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, told Business Insider.</p><p>"Unfortunately, many small-business owners won't have the capital to start opening new restaurants," Rigie added. </p><p>Just 66% of independent restaurant owners were confident that they would still be open in October, according to a July survey of independent restaurant owners conducted by the James Beard Foundation and the Independent Restaurant Coalition. According to the restaurant consultancy Aaron Allen &amp; Associates, only about <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-31/one-third-of-u-s-restaurants-face-permanent-closure-this-year?sref=p7zS9UoY">one in three</a> independent restaurants may survive until the end of 2020.</p><p>Elliot Nelson, who owns 20 restaurants in Oklahoma and Arkansas, told Business Insider that a major chain has already approached him about taking over one of his restaurants' leases. Nelson said he expected many independent restaurant owners to leave the industry altogether because of the pandemic. </p><p>"It's going to be hard to muster up the energy to want to keep going and do it again," Nelson said. "How would you feel if the biggest thing you worked really hard on was replaced by Taco Bell? So much of your soul goes into building unique stuff, and if you see it become so homogenous, that's especially heart-wrenching."</p><h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pandemic-paves-way-to-chains-to-swallow-up-independent-restaurants-2020-8">Read Business Insider's full story on chains using the restaurant apocalypse as a chance to "swallow up" independent restaurants here.</a></h2><p><em>Irene Jiang contributed reporting to this article. </em></p>

Sales return to normal levels at massive chains, but independent restaurants continue to struggle — a trend that could permanently change the industry

London, May 8 () The anteater-like mammals, pangolins, possess an evolutionary advantage against coronavirus, according to researchers, who say that understanding the animal's immune system may help develop new treatment options for COVID-19.<p> According to the scientists from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, certain genes sense when a virus enters the body, and trigger an immune response in most mammals. </p><p> However, they noted in the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, that pangolins, which may have carried the novel coronavirus from bats to humans, lack two of those virus-sensing genes. </p><p> The researchers believe that the finding is significant since pangolins can be carriers of coronavirus while they also seem to tolerate it via an unknown mechanism. </p><p> Understanding this evolutionary advantage may point to possible treatment options for coronavirus in humans, the researchers added.</p><p> In the study, the scientists analysed the genome sequence of pangolins and compared it to other mammals including humans, cats, dogs, and cattle.</p><p> "Our work shows that pangolins have survived through millions of years of evolution without a type of antiviral defense that is used by all other mammals," says study co-author Leopold Eckhart from the Medical University of Vienna.</p><p> "Further studies of pangolins will uncover how they manage to survive viral infections, and this might help to devise new treatment strategies for people with viral infections," Eckhart said.</p><p> In humans, he said, coronavirus can cause an inflammatory immune response called a cytokine storm, which worsens outcomes. </p><p> While pharmaceutical suppression of gene signaling could be a possible treatment option for severe cases of COVID-19, Eckhart cautioned though that such a remedy could open the door to secondary infections. </p><p> "The main challenge is to reduce the response to the pathogen while maintaining sufficient control of the virus," he said, adding that an overactivated immune system can be moderated. </p><p> According to Eckhart, this can be done by reducing the intensity or by changing the timing of the human body's defense reaction.</p><p> While the study identified genetic differences between pangolins and other mammals, the scientists said they did not investigate the impact of those differences on the antiviral response. </p><p> Eckhart said another gene, RIG-I, which also acts as a sensor against viruses, should be studied further as it could defend against coronaviruses. </p> The scientists believe that the study offers a starting point to better understand the characteristics of the novel coronavirus, the body's response, and the best options for treatment.    VISVIS

Pangolins may possess evolutionary advantage against coronavirus: Study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Fast-food giants such as Domino's, Chipotle, and Dunkin' are eyeing real estate opportunities presented by independent <keyword id="34615" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="restaurants">restaurants</keyword> struggling to stay open during the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic.</li><li><strong>The Independent Restaurant Coalition estimates that up to 85% of independent restaurants may <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/85-of-independent-restaurants-could-permanently-close-in-2020-report-2020-6">close permanently</a> by the end of the pandemic.</strong></li><li>"So much of your soul goes into building unique stuff, and if you see it become so homogenous, that's especially heart-wrenching," said Elliott Nelson, who owns 20 restaurants in Oklahoma and Arkansas. </li></ul><p>After falling in love with Dublin's pubs on a study abroad trip, Elliott Nelson abandoned his plans of becoming a lawyer and decided instead to open up an Irish pub in economically depressed downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. He knew he'd face difficulties, but he never imagined the challenges the pandemic would bring.</p><p>That single Irish pub, McNellie's, is now McNellie's Group. It employed over 700 people across twenty restaurants before the pandemic. But now with Paycheck Protection Program money long gone and no additional aid in sight, Nelson is being forced to consider shutting down some of his restaurants permanently. And a major chain already has its sights set on one of those restaurants.</p><p>"That's the attitude right now: we're going to swallow up more real estate, we're going to expand these brands," Nelson told Business Insider.</p><p>While chains have announced planned closures of underperforming locations, it's independent restaurants across the US that are facing unprecedented challenges. And as independent restaurants falter, well-funded chains and their franchisees are eager to pounce on restaurant real estate. </p><p>In other words, the pandemic is paving the way for chains to take over the American restaurant industry. As independent restaurants struggle to stay afloat, the looming domination of chains seems inevitable. </p><h2>Fast-food giants are eyeing soon-to-be empty real estate </h2><div type="image" title="empty restaurant" height="3744" width="4992" msid="77751504" hostid="261"></div><p>Fast-food executives have been emphasizing real estate opportunities as the silver lining of the pandemic. </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dunkin-cash-in-local-coffee-shops-going-out-of-business-2020-7">Dunkin' executives said</a> that the impending closures of independent local coffee shops presented opportunities for franchisees. In a statement, Dunkin's senior director of franchising development, Steve Rafferty, said that "franchisees, who are small, independent business owners, are always looking for new development opportunities, in the communities where they live and work." </p><p>Domino's CEO Ritch Allison <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4358923-dominos-pizza-inc-dpz-ceo-ritch-allison-on-q2-2020-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=single">said</a> that the pizza chain planned to speed up expansion, thanks to real estate opportunities that "weren't available in the past." The pizza chain declined to comment further on its plans. </p><p><a href="https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/financing/expanding-chains-see-opportunity-post-pandemic-real-estate">Restaurant Business reports</a> that Chipotle has been reaching out to restaurants that aren't even closed yet, offering to buy out their leases in the case they are "looking for relief." Laurie Schalow, Chipotle's chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, said that the chain continues to "open new restaurants and sign new leases to satisfy customer demand for Chipotle restaurants."</p><p>"As new construction has slowed in many markets, we are seeing an increase in brokers reaching out to us with new lease opportunities," Schalow said. "We work through a network of brokers in each market, who know our site criteria for opening a successful Chipotle, and they bring deals to us where the landlord is already looking for a new tenant." </p><p>Most franchisors have a team dedicated to scouting out real estate opportunities, franchising expert Joel Libava told Business Insider.</p><p>As restaurants close up shop, these departments will spot desirable real estate in regions where chains wish to expand. With landlords lacking the leverage they had prior to the pandemic and corporate real estate lawyers on hand, chains are in an enviable position when it comes to negotiating rents. </p><p>"Some of the major franchise chains that have franchisees that really remained successful through this thing are going to want more units," Libava said. "And they're going to be able to snag them ... cheap." </p><h2>Why chains will profit off the restaurant apocalypse </h2><div type="image" title="FILE PHOTO: A Dunkin' store, the first since a rebranding by the Dunkin' Donuts chain, is pictured ahead of its opening in Pasadena, California, U.S., August 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni" height="1850" width="2466" msid="77751507" hostid="261"></div><p>"It's not going to be pretty" for the kind of person who eats locally sourced food and seeks out cute independent coffee shops in the coming months, Libava said. While he notes many franchisees are run by local small business owners, the shock of seeing countless independent restaurants taken over by global brands will leave a bad taste in many people's mouths. </p><p>A Bank of America report from early July found that spending at big chains was down just 4% year-over-year, compared to a 25% drop for independent restaurants and small chains. </p><p>Chains are more likely to be fast-food and fast-casual concepts that are better prepared for to-go food than independents, the Bank of America report notes. The majority of these major restaurant companies invested in digital ordering and delivery prior to the pandemic, while mom-and-pop shops scrambled to transition to a model that relies on a thriving take-out business.</p><p>In New York alone, a report by the office of New York Comptroller Scott Stringer found that at least 1,289 restaurants <a href="https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/save-main-street/#_edn3">closed permanently</a> in the city between March 1 and July 10. </p><p>One neighborhood staple forced out of business by the pandemic was Bennie's Thai Cafe in Manhattan's Financial District. Thai immigrant Bennie Boon and her husband James had opened the restaurant in 1996.</p><p>"We made it through the dark days of 9/11, the recession and Superstorm Sandy, but the COVID-19 pandemic was just too much for us to undertake," the Boons wrote in a <a href="https://abc7ny.com/bennies-thai-cafe-restaurants-closing-pandemic-closed-because-of-covid/6334144/">message to customers</a> posted on their door.</p><p>"The pandemic is going to result in many vacant restaurant spaces around the city, which will provide an opportunity for better-capitalized restaurant companies to swoop in and take over these spaces if they see a good business opportunity, Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, told Business Insider. "Unfortunately, many small business owners won't have the capital to start opening new restaurants."  </p><p>Across the country, independent restaurant owners see the writing on the wall.</p><p>A July survey of independent restaurant owners by the James Beard Foundation and the Independent Restaurant Coalition found that just 66% of independent restaurant owners were confident they would still be open in October. The IRC estimates that up to 85% of independent restaurants may <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/85-of-independent-restaurants-could-permanently-close-in-2020-report-2020-6">close permanently</a> by the end of the pandemic, and restaurant consultancy Aaron Allen &amp; Associates estimates that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-31/one-third-of-u-s-restaurants-face-permanent-closure-this-year?sref=p7zS9UoY">one in three</a> may not make it to the end of the year. </p><h2>More restaurants closures are inevitable </h2><div type="image" title="empty closed restaurant during coronavirus pandemic" height="1798" width="2397" msid="77751509" hostid="261"></div><p>As the pandemic stretches on, more closures seem inevitable. </p><p>"Get a vaccine, it'll turn around," said Robert Rattet, an attorney who specializes in bankruptcies. "Without a vaccine, you'll have more closures." </p><p>"Winter is coming," Rattet added, noting that restaurants who were able to survive through the summer and early fall <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-recovery-moves-at-lumbering-pace-without-indoor-dining-2020-8">will have a much more difficult time serving customers outdoors when winter rolls around. </a></p><p>Libava agreed that the coming months bring more closures. Even a vaccine doesn't guarantee a return to restaurants, he said,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-vaxxers-oppose-a-coronavirus-vaccine-that-doesnt-exist-2020-5"> noting that anti-vaxxers could cause problems even after scientists find a solution.</a></p><p>Companies buying restaurants now, Rattet said, are betting on a brighter post-vaccine future. At this point, chains — especially fast-casual and fast-food chains — are more likely to have the funds to gamble on recovery than independent restaurant owners, many of whom are struggling to pay their bills. </p><p>Nelson, the Tulsa pub owner, said he expects many independent restaurant owners to exit the industry altogether because of the pandemic.</p><p>"It's going to be hard to muster up the energy to want to keep going and do it again," Nelson said. "How would you feel if the biggest thing you worked really hard on was replaced by Taco Bell? So much of your soul goes into building unique stuff, and if you see it become so homogenous, that's especially heart-wrenching."</p>

Fast-food giants like Dunkin' and Chipotle are using the restaurant apocalypse as a chance to 'swallow up' independent restaurants that are struggling to survive the pandemic

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56cc88626e97c622048b900d-620-465/tao-2.jpg" alt="Tao" data-mce-source="Facebook/TaoNYC" data-link="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151511680804571&amp;set=pb.43002604570.-2207520000.1364496664&amp;type=3&amp;theater" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151511680804571&amp;set=pb.43002604570.-2207520000.1364496664&amp;type=3&amp;theater">Facebook/TaoNYC</a></span></p><p class="caption">Tao, the godfather of massive club-restaurants, in Midtown Manhattan.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Dining is a ritual in New York City.</p><p>Consider that many New Yorkers use their kitchens as a dual-storage space and take-out-dining center.</p><p>A bare refrigerator is a normal thing; many contain only a few condiments.</p><p>We dine out a lot. It's sacred.</p><p>That's why some of the kings of New York dining - the businessmen with restaurants spanning the country and grossing millions in revenue - are agonizing over a decision that could drastically change that ritual.</p><p>We're talking about tipping, and right now there's a debate raging within the industry over whether or not to do away with tipping altogether.</p><p>Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and habit-forming burger joint Shake Shack, has already eliminated tipping - and he's known for his obsession with service.</p><p>Others are not so sure they want to say goodbye just yet.</p><p>"America is built on incentives," said Rich Wolf, a founder at dining and nightlife behemoth TAO Group. "There will always be people who will work hard and break their asses. And there will always be people who do nothing.</p><p>"I'm not sure this country is ready for the end of the culture of tipping. For every problem it solves, a new one arises," Wolf said.</p><h2>The dynamics</h2><p>Tipping has become an issue because of New York's recent decision to raise minimum wages. The wage hike is pretty straightforward when it applies to staff who don't earn tips. They get paid an hourly wage, and it just went up.<br /><br />For staff who earn a huge portion of their pay in the form of tips, though, things got more complicated. And to restaurateurs and their customers who may see prices go up, it is more unfair.</p><p>There's a special process used to determine wages for the hospitality industry in the state. It's called a "hospitality wage order." When the minimum wage is increased in New York, a commission is formed to explore how the hospitality industry's wages should rise in comparison.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/52efc5dc6da8111e4f3e1f5e-800-800/american cut.jpg" alt="american cut steakhouse" data-mce-source="Courtesy of American Cut" /><p class="source"><span>Courtesy of American Cut</span></p><p class="caption">The dining room at American Cut in Tribeca.</p></div><p></p></div></div>A board convenes to discuss whether or not wages should be increased, and a commissioner ultimately makes the call.</p><p>That's how the minimum wage for non-tipped workers was hiked from $5 an hour to $7.50.</p><p>When the commission was convened, industry groups tried to present a proposal that Andrew Rigie of The New York City Hospitality Alliance called a "progressive" solution.</p><p>Any tipped employee who makes $7.50 an hour with tips gets paid $5 as a base. If the tipped employee makes less, they get paid at the $7.50 hourly rate.</p><p>But their proposal was denied.</p><p>"We were quite unhappy," Rigie told Business Insider. "The issue is you have more and more money going to employees who aren't really minimum-wage employees."</p><p>The owners at high-end restaurants say the waitstaff don't need the wage increase that they're getting. Some of their waitstaff were making six-figure salaries in the old regime.</p><p>"People who work making $7 to $8 an hour without tips, maybe they should get $15 an hour - God bless them," said John Meadow, CEO and founder of LDV Hospitality.</p><p>His restaurant group owns the American Cut steakhouse, nightclub No. 8, and Italian restaurant Scarpetta, among others.</p><p>"But my server making $90K a year? I'm proud I created a business that made that happen. Treating fast food the same as fine dining? That's totally inappropriate."</p><h2>The house</h2><p>Another problem with this wage increase, say restaurateurs, is that it makes inequities between front-of-house and back-of-house employees that already existed even worse. It leaves the back-of-the-house behind.</p><p>The people who handle your food in the kitchen can't legally share in the front-of-house's tip pool. Restaurants can use their discretion to pay them more, but a 50% increase in wages to waitstaff is going to make it harder to hike wages for the back-of-the-house.</p><p>So that's when people started talking about doing away with tipping altogether.</p><p>"Nobody's talking about the real reason why there's movement in the tipping world," Wolf said in a phone interview. "Laws and regulations around labor are just getting harder to comply with. I would challenge the state of New York and the City of New York to start their own restaurant and follow all the rules."</p><p>Restaurateurs have a solution, of course.</p><p>"You've got to either increase your prices or get out of the business. We're not doing this for charity," said Scott Gerber, CEO of Gerber Group. His company operates food and beverage programs in hotels like the Viceroy Central Park on 57th Street and W New York - Union Square.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56cc87486e97c619008b8f77-998-749/screen shot 2014-04-01 at 12.49.35 pm.png" alt="Viceroy hotel nyc roof" data-mce-source="Viceroy" data-mce-caption="The view from the Viceroy Hotel, Midtown" /><p class="source"><span>Viceroy</span></p><p class="caption">The view from the Viceroy Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That's what Meyer did in his dive into the non-tipping world. He instated a "hospitality included" policy, increased prices, wrote customers a note about it, and eliminated the tip portion on your bill.</p><p>That price hike isn't what's giving these businessmen something of an existential crisis, though. It's more about the culture of the business they know, something they think of as definitively American.</p><p>"Because of how I was brought up, I want people to work for their tips," Gerber said.</p><h2>Proceed with caution</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56cc87d56e97c621048b8ff4-3680-2760/ap464439248041.jpg" alt="andrew cuomo" data-mce-source="AP" /><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The calls for an even larger minimum-wage increase can be heard all over the country.</p><p>On Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hit the road in his "Drive for $15" initiative, a statewide tour in a <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gov-cuomo-rv-tour-ny-15-minimum-wage-push-article-1.2540462">blue-and-red bus that's kicking off in Manhattan</a>.</p><p>"All New Yorkers deserve a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and we're taking this message statewide," said Gov. Cuomo.</p><p>"Together, we're going to set a national precedent with a $15 minimum wage and ensure that those who work hard will be able to make a decent living and enjoy a better quality of life."</p><p>In the hospitality industry there's a fear that another minimum-wage hike would initiate another hospitality-wage order, one that could be just as imbalanced as the last.</p><p>"This is a challenging operating environment with a trifecta of hospitality head winds in rent increases, the wage tip credit increase and clients' increased focus on value, creating price compression," said Altamarea CEO and owner Ahmass Fakahany.</p><p>"For Altamarea we are slowing pace and taking a cautious view, focusing on efficiency, quality consistency, and our clients."</p><p>In other words, we're not moving until we see the whites of their eyes. This is too important a decision to take lightly. A chunk of New York culture is at stake.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/benfords-law-used-detect-fraud-math-forensic-accountants-2016-2">How forensic accountants use Benford's Law to detect fraud</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="B1YWoxcjrFrRijRDjTaHaOVr7tUDWzvh" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'B1YWoxcjrFrRijRDjTaHaOVr7tUDWzvh',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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Louder, prouder, and more extravagant than ever: Welcome to the Decadent Age of New York City nightlife

Linette Lopez

A TikTok craze has people stealing dishes and glasses from restaurants, and it's revealing a long history of sticky-fingered diners

Yeji Jesse Lee,Nancy Luna

Everything to know about Gleeden, the extra-marital dating app where 20% users are Indians

Srishti Magan

Even with outdoor dining, 87% of NYC restaurants couldn't pay their full rent in August

Juliana Kaplan

New York City is allowing indoor dining to reopen at 25% capacity, but experts say it isn't enough to save restaurants

Kate Taylor,Irene Jiang

Sales return to normal levels at massive chains, but independent restaurants continue to struggle — a trend that could permanently change the industry

Kate Taylor

Pangolins may possess evolutionary advantage against coronavirus: Study

PTI

Fast-food giants like Dunkin' and Chipotle are using the restaurant apocalypse as a chance to 'swallow up' independent restaurants that are struggling to survive the pandemic

Kate Taylor,Irene Jiang

The kings of New York dining are agonizing over a decision that could change their business forever

Linette Lopez