The writer is the co-founder of Whitmans Restaurant in Hudson Yards and the East Village.
I’m the co-founder of Whitmans Restaurant. After launching our flagship location in the East Village in 2010, we opened a second branch in West Chelsea in 2016. Business was great, albeit with some normal ups and downs that come with running a restaurant in New York. But then the COVID pandemic hit, which was a huge blow to our city’s small businesses and economic health.
While the restaurant industry and popular businesses like mine have largely bounced back, thanks in no small part to huge companies like those headquartered at Hudson Yards bringing tens of thousands of workers back to the office, anyone who has been to our neighborhood knows we have more to do. There are still shuttered storefronts and we have yet to see tourists back in full force at pre-pandemic levels.
