{"id":38039,"date":"2025-11-13T06:19:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T06:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/38039\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T06:19:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T06:19:15","slug":"nyc-restaurateur-cancels-expansion-plans-following-zohran-mamdani-victory-im-not-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/38039\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC restaurateur cancels expansion plans following Zohran Mamdani victory: \u2018I\u2019m not signing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s radical policy proposals have prompted high-profile restaurateur Stratis Morfogen to cancel plans to open new businesses.<\/p>\n

He told Side Dish he\u2019s pulling the plug on three new establishments, including one in Midtown West.<\/p>\n

\u201cI waited for the election before signing and now I\u2019m not signing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Stratis<\/p>\n

Stratis Morfogen told Side Dish he\u2019s pulling the plug on three new establishments, including one in Midtown West. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n

Just last week, Morfogen opened his first restaurant in Miami. The eatery, called Brooklyn Chop House Miami, boasts 400 seats and has a rooftop bar overlooking the skyline in the Moxy Hotel in Wynwood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not signing any more leases in New York,\u201d Morfogen vowed. \u201cI\u2019ll keep what I have. We\u2019re not expanding in New York but we are pursuing further opportunities in Miami and other cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t feel that this mayor is suitable to supporting small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veteran restaurateur and nightlife guru Richie Romero had the same response to Mamdani\u2019s stunning defeat of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Romero has put a halt on new openings except for a new East Village outpost of Sushi By Bou, for which construction began months before the election.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cWe<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to wait and see what [Mamdani] does. His radical changes scare the s\u2013t out of small business owners,\u201d Morfogen said. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hatred of Jews, socialism, the economics \u2013 it\u2019s too much,\u201d he said of Mamdani. \u201cI had to be vocal. I get attacked, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero, who hosted fundraising events for Cuomo, said he is launching a coalition \u201cto fight socialism\u201d that is still in the works.<\/p>\n

Instead of betting on New York, the lifelong New Yorker is opening 12 to 15 concepts outside the city in secondary markets \u2014 from Atlanta and Dallas to West Palm, Fla.<\/p>\n

\"Just<\/p>\n

Just last week, Morfogen opened his first restaurant in Miami, above. Brooklyn Chop House<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The eatery, called Brooklyn Chop House Miami, boasts 400 seats. Brooklyn Chop House<\/p>\n

Morfogen said he opted not to sign a lease for an all-but-completed deal for a new restaurant at West 32nd Street and 10th Avenue. He also put the brakes on signing leases for new diners on the Upper East Side, at East 62nd Street and First Avenue, and on the edge of the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not signing any leases now,\u201d Morfogen declared. \u201cWe want to wait and see what [Mamdani] does. His radical changes scare the s\u2013t out of small business owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor-elect\u2019s proposal to raise the city\u2019s minimum wage to $30 by 2030 will \u201cput fast-casual out of business,\u201d Morfogen predicted.<\/p>\n

\"Restaurateur<\/p>\n

Restaurateur Richie Romero has put a halt on new openings except for a new East Village outpost of Sushi By Bou, for which construction began months before the election. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n

\u201cThere won\u2019t be any more diners for $25 a person if a $12 burger goes up to $22,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will still have to pay our rent and our profit margin \u2014 at 10% \u2014 is too thin to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is also worried about public safety under Mamdani, an ardent critic of the NYPD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s personal for Morfogen, who said illegal immigrants have assaulted members of his family in recent years, leading one of the victims to be hospitalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had enough. I love New York City and even after all the destruction with Cuomo during COVID, I was forced to vote for him because anything is better than a socialist communist with insane, anti-small business policies,\u201d Morfogen said.<\/p>\n

\"Romero\u2019s<\/p>\n

Romero\u2019s Sushi By Bou in Chelsea, above. Romero said he is launching a coalition \u201cto fight socialism.\u201d Hassan Mokaddam<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe that New York City, a city I love and where I grew up, voted him in. I\u2019m not sure I recognize this city anymore,\u201d said the restaurateur, whose dad was a Dem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the Democratic city that my father loved. [Former Gov.] Mario Cuomo is turning in his grave seeing what the Democratic Party has become.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the streets don\u2019t feel safe near his 24-hour Gramercy Park diner, called Diner24.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank God we have a police station a block away. Can you imagine if [Mamdani] defunds the police? It\u2019s insanity, and the message that is even being considered gives criminals a lot of confidence that they can get away with things,\u201d Morfogen said.<\/p>\n

\"Romero<\/p>\n

Romero said he is opening 12 to 15 concepts outside the city in secondary markets \u2014 from Atlanta and Dallas to West Palm, Fla. Adrien Mueller<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s anti-business proposals like taxing the rich<\/a> and opening publicly-run grocery stores angered Romero, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see 30 to 40% of vacant storefronts now,\u201d he said. \u201cHow do you suggest that someone who is not pro business will make it get better?\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees. Restaurateur Mark Bucher, who co-owns Medium Rare restaurants in nine cities including the Big Apple, said he\u2019s \u201calways bullish on New York City\u201d and plans to open a new outpost in Manhattan next year.<\/p>\n

But Romero said his main interest in the city is for promotional purposes, not making money.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York is a showcase \u2014 like Fifth Avenue,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s better to open in West Palm, Dallas and Nashville, where they are more business friendly. It\u2019s impossible to make money here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani\u2019s radical policy proposals have prompted high-profile restaurateur Stratis Morfogen to cancel plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[80,22223,4921,12310,3003,9,24,56,63,65,64,22225,22224,292,22109,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-38039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-andrew-cuomo","9":"tag-brooklyn-chop-house-miami","10":"tag-chelsea","11":"tag-mario-cuomo","12":"tag-midtown-west","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-nyc-headlines","18":"tag-nyc-news","19":"tag-pulling-the-plug","20":"tag-restaurateur","21":"tag-side-dish","22":"tag-stratis-morfogen","23":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}