NYC Restaurant Taladwat Closes Due To COVID-19 Pandemic
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Another business has been forced to close its doors for good due to the coronavirus pandemic.
CBS2's Alice Gainer stopped by the Hell's Kitchen restaurant back in March and followed up with it on Thursday to see why, despite making adjustments, it could not be saved.
On March 16, in-person dining officially shut down at 8 p.m. Taladwat on Ninth Avenue put out a table donating all its food to anyone walking by while owners closed for a few weeks to re-evaluate.
"Assess the situation with clear minds and then see what we can do," co-owner Brian Ghaw said.
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Taladwat had communal seating with family style dishes, so it needed to make adjustments.
"Pivot our operations, our structure in the kitchen and also our menu to be a lit bit more delivery friendly," said Ghaw.
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Ghaw said for a while takeout was doing pretty well, but high delivery app fees, among other reasons, took a toll.
"[We] started seeing our sales plateauing a little bit and then dipping and then outdoor dining came along and that was a good boost for about a week or two and then the same situation," said Ghaw.
Normally, about 60 diners fit inside and outside the restaurant could accommodate just 10.
Probably the biggest blow to the business was the Broadway shutdown. There was no pre- or post-show dinner crowd.
"Without Broadway coming back until at least 2021, there was really no way to sustain it," Ghaw said.
Taladwat, which opened two years ago to rave reviews from food critics, was even featured on a CBS2 Dining Deals segment in 2019. But now like so many other restaurants in the city, it wasn't able to pay rent, though its landlord was very understanding. It also received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, but it wasn't enough.
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So Wednesday, all these months later, another table was out, this time selling kitchenware for about a dollar. Thirty employees are now out of work. Ghaw hopes local and federal officials see the carnage.
"Don't forget about us and do something soon because we're all just waiting and running out of money and running out of time, to be honest with you," Ghaw said.
Only time will tell who else is forced to pack it in.
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