{"id":41233,"date":"2025-11-16T13:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T13:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/41233\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T13:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T13:25:08","slug":"a-talk-with-and-take-on-the-restaurant-owner-who-says-hes-abandoning-nyc-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/41233\/","title":{"rendered":"A talk with, and take on, the restaurant owner who says he\u2019s abandoning NYC expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Having owned a restaurant, worked in food service most of my life and now writing about it, not much surprises me. But Stratis Morfogen\u2019s sensationalized interview in the New York Post rankled me\u2014especially that headline: \u201cNYC restaurateur cancels expansion plans following Zohran Mamdani victory: \u2018I\u2019m not signing.\u2019\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Gloomy doesn\u2019t begin to describe it. Where\u2019s the Big Apple positivity? The love? We\u2019ve had lousy mayors before, yet New York always finds a way forward.<\/p>\n

Why Stratis is making headlines<\/p>\n

Most Staten Island restaurateurs avoid going public on politics or money. It feels declass\u00e9, and customers don\u2019t want to hear it. But Stratis? He put his name on it \u2014 and now he\u2019s the talk of the town.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve met Stratis before, about five years ago on Staten Island, and even have one of his books, Damn Good Dumplings: 60 Innovative Favorites for Every Occasion. (His better-known book is Be a Disruptor: Streetwise Lessons for Entrepreneurs\u2014from the Mob to Mandates.) So I called him and asked him to explain further.<\/p>\n

\"Reggiano's\"More empty storefronts or vibrant restaurants? What’s the future? The recent past: Reggiano\u2019s II of Great Kills closed permanently on June 30, ending a chapter for the sit-down Italian restaurant business with roots in Tottenville. The establishment at 4126 Hylan Blvd. had built its reputation on brick oven pizzas and generous portions of Southern Italian cuisine.(Advance\/SILive.com | Pamela Silvestri)His bite of the Big Apple<\/p>\n

Stratis Morfogen has decided to stop expanding his restaurant operations in New York City, citing a proposed minimum wage increase and concerns about the city\u2019s business climate. He walked away from three Manhattan diner leases and is shifting focus to Miami instead.<\/p>\n

His reasoning? Uncertainty. \u201cI\u2019m not comfortable opening more 24-hour diners if the minimum wage is going to $30 an hour,\u201d he told me. \u201cThat would make it impossible for fast-casual restaurants to survive \u2014 unless you want to pay $22 for that $12 hamburger.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out that restaurants with average tickets of $15\u2013$25 per person can\u2019t absorb those costs the way fine dining spots charging $80\u2013$90 can. Add to that worries about police funding cuts for 24-hour operations and a lingering 6% rent tax from the previous administration that slashed margins from 16\u201320% down to barely 10%.<\/p>\n

Despite his criticism, Stratis, 58, says he\u2019s open to dialogue. \u201cI actually think [the mayor] is a very smart young man, but his small business knowledge is zero because he\u2019s never run one. I\u2019d love to talk with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

His argument boils down to this: job creation comes from working people with moderate assets, not billionaires. \u201cThe billionaires don\u2019t create jobs. It\u2019s the hard-working people with $500,000 in assets \u2014 the ones who open bodegas, fast-casual spots, diners. Those are most of the people who create jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1987Chef Marta Viguri and owner George Burke pose in a dining room at Burke\u2019s Landing in Rossville, circa 1970. The beloved restaurant later became the Historic Old Bermuda Inn. Staten Island AdvanceA call to action <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my take on the conversation: The restaurant business has been around for thousands of years \u2014 from ancient Rome\u2019s thermopolia to Parisian caf\u00e9s to Delmonico\u2019s in 1827 and one of Staten Island\u2019s first restaurants, the Rose & Crown, commemorated by a stone marker at the top of New Dorp Lane. Automats, fast food chains, delivery apps \u2014 every era brings disruption. Yet the fundamentals remain: margins matter as do policies.<\/p>\n

And my message to restaurant owners, to Stratis, and to everyone who loves dining out: unless you\u2019re running for office, it\u2019s time to get more involved in local politics. Step out of the kitchen. Attend community board meetings. Join collectives like the NYC Restaurant and Hospitality Alliance \u2014 there\u2019s strength in numbers. Call your local legislators: city council members, state senators, assembly representatives <\/a>and the lean staff <\/a>at the Borough President\u2019s office<\/a>. Local is the key \u2014 these are the people who can change laws before issues spiral further.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t, voices like Stratis will keep sounding alarms about a new mayor before he\u2019s even begun \u2014 and about policies that exist because the food industry hasn\u2019t spoken up. I hope owners can pull together and put their collective feet down to make changes. Otherwise, we\u2019ll be staring at a landscape of legal weed shops or, perhaps worse, empty storefronts.<\/p>\n

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