Philadelphia City Council has approved legislation aimed at expanding outdoor dining and limiting the resale of restaurant reservations as the city prepares for an expected increase in tourism in 2026.<\/p>\n
The measures are designed to help restaurants add outdoor seating more easily and address complaints about third-party reservation scalping. Supporters say the changes will boost business activity, create jobs and improve access for diners.<\/p>\n
“We need more outdoor seating, we need more seating period,” said Tiffany Gosa of Chester, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The legislation, authored by Councilmember Rue Landau, streamlines the approval process for sidewalk cafes, making it faster and more affordable for restaurants to add outdoor tables and chairs.<\/p>\n
“It’s gonna create more jobs. It’s gonna create more revenue for the restaurants. It’s gonna activate neighborhoods that weren’t active before,” said Ben Fileccia, the senior VP of strategy and engagement with the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association.<\/p>\n
Restaurant operators say outdoor dining benefits both businesses and customers.<\/p>\n
“It’s great for the business, great for the guests, and it adds a wonderful ambiance to the street as well. I think it’s very European in a way,” said Russell Becht, manager of Taqueria Amor.<\/p>\n
Under the previous rules, only “by-right” businesses in Center City and a limited number of other locations could operate sidewalk cafes without a special zoning ordinance. Landau said the process could take up to two years.<\/p>\n
“Right now in Philadelphia, if you just want to put a couple of tables and chairs outside your establishment, it takes 18 to 27 months,” Landau said.<\/p>\n
With the ordinance requirement removed, restaurants in Manayunk, along Point Breeze Avenue in South Philadelphia, and throughout West Philadelphia’s 3rd District will now be able to add outdoor seating more easily.<\/p>\n
“They want more people coming to their business. They want to have more capacity. Their staff wants more seats so they can get more tips and be busier,” Landau said.<\/p>\n
City leaders also approved a measure targeting reservation scalping, a practice in which third-party sites allow people to book restaurant reservations and resell them at high prices.<\/p>\n
“It’s very difficult to get reservations because now it’s like you go to make a reservation, you can’t make one, and then you get someone trying to sell you a reservation at this astronomical price,” Gosa said.<\/p>\n
Fileccia said the restaurant industry supports regulating the practice.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t think it was fair that the restaurants didn’t know what was going on, and were not saying that this has to be banned entirely, but we are saying if you want to sell a reservation for a restaurant, you have to have that restaurant’s permission to do so,” he said.<\/p>\n
Landau called the legislation a turning point for the city.<\/p>\n
“I think this is our time and this is the time that phillys gonna shine,” she said.<\/p>\n
Both bills now head to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s desk and will take effect once signed into law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia City Council has approved legislation aimed at expanding outdoor dining and limiting the resale of restaurant reservations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[29494,29473,69,5648,71,70,32188,2299,32187],"class_list":["post-58854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-outdoor-dining","tag-outdoor-seating","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-city-council","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-reservation","tag-rue-landau","tag-tiffany-gosa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}