A beige restaurant is open on a Saturday late afternoon, in early march. It’s cursive sign on the front boasts tapas and arepas at an inexpensive price. The restaurant’s windows turn the corner onto 4th street where a meager party of five sits at a large dark wooden table in the middle of the dining room. The place smells like fresh paint and new kitchen wear dense with Venezuelan food: It’s a new smell on 1st Avenue.
Guayoyo is on of the new restaurants that is about to face an interesting path in the wake of the financial crash of 2008. Although there has been an economic downturn, Senior Vice President of the Research and Information Services of the National Restaurant Association, Hudson Riehle, reported on a video on the National Restaurant Association website saying that economic forecasts predict greater income ahead for restaurants in the United States and in New York State. The danger in the restaurant industry is not the restaurants themselves but the changes in consumer lifestyle.
Guayoyo opened in New York City’s Lower East Side on February second after a two month renovation period. First Avenue is known for its kitschy Indian restaurants that have populated near sixth street. Guayoyo now offers a unique Venezuelan cuisine to the neighboring Indian Restaurants. It is slightly lower in price to many other restaurants on the avenue at about $7 for arepa. The Japanese restaurant, Kura Sushi that inhabited the same 67 1st Avenue venue before, closed in November.
New York State has been facing difficult times after the financial crash in 2008, with an unemployment percentage of 9.0-9.9% of jobs, where New York State has suffered an average of 9.4% of jobs according to The Bureau of Economic Analysis. However, Kathleen Walton, the Senior Manager of Information Services at The National Restaurant Association said that "the restaurant industry has done relatively well." There are constant openings of restaurants all over Manhattan. Restaurants in New York City do face a job decline. However, in comparison to job loses in other job areas the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that, along with education, health and leisure, hospitality has shown an increase in New York State.
Though the financial crash has hit Manhattan restaurants less than other work forces, they are constantly desperate to find workers. Often these restaurants receive workers for short periods of time. Erin Mattick, 21, a senior and Environmental Studies major at The New School worked at three restaurants over two years. "I busted my ass" she said "and got less than I was getting before." The former resident of Southern Florida , Mattick, added that "the turnover [of workers] was crazy."
The owner and manager of Guayoyo has been facing difficulty in hiring. Carlos Lopez, 43, said, “it is not so hard to find people, but finding good people has been difficult.” The Venezuelan cuisine that Guayoyo offers can only be found in Manhattan on 72nd Street and the West Village, so the taste is relatively rare for New Yorkers, and especially the Lower East Side.Promotional money has been tight for Guayoyo, however. “It’s difficult to get the word out,” Mr. Lopez says. Though the restaurant has had a slow start Carlos Lopez believes that due to it's unique food selections it will be a success. “Last year I was laid off” he said, “but this is a good new taste for people who only know burritos.”
Restaurants face an interesting predicament where they are always searching for jobs where the job market is full of people in need of work. "In a metropolitan area more people are inclined to eat out," Walton said, "and we need to enforce this lifestyle." The danger in the restaurant industry is not the restaurants themselves but the changes in consumer lifestyle. Fortunately, where there were 150,931.7 thousand workers in 2008 nationally there will be a increase to about 166,205.6 thousand nationally by 2018 according to the National Employment Matrix by The Bureau of labour Statistics.
With the financial crisis still weighing down on many businesses New York City seems to be facing less of a downturn now. In comparison with a 9 billion dollar raising in revnue in the restaurant industry since last year according to the US Department of Commerce, restaurants and accommodation businesses are beginning to overcome the financial crisis of 2008. "There is no way to protect against a financial crisis." Walton, the Senior Manager of Information Services at The National Restaurant Association said "but we are providing as many tool as we can to help the restaurants." These tools include education, venues and food quality. “It starts slow” Lopez said, “but I always tell them [at the restaurant] ‘don’t worry, don’t worry.” Restaurants in New York City can consider themselves lucky, work is not letting up.
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