Sponsored By

Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group halts indoor and outdoor dining

New York City-based restaurant company to focus on takeout, delivery and nationwide shipping

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

November 20, 2020

2 Min Read
RestaurantHospitality logo in a gray background | RestaurantHospitality

Union Square Hospitality Group has discontinued all on-site dining at its restaurants to focus on takeout, delivery, nationwide shipping, and virtual events, founder and CEO Danny Meyer said in an email to customers Friday.

The group, based in New York City, only had been offering dining-room service — at 25% capacity — at three of its restaurants: Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and the Battery Park City location of Blue Smoke.

“Given the growing number of positive COVID-19 cases in New York City, and even within our own USHG community, we are making the decision that is in the best interest of the health and safety of our people.” Meyer said.

He added that the decision would allow his staff “to put 100% of their efforts into cooking amazing food that you can enjoy in the comfort and safety of your own home, whether picked up contact-free or delivered to you. 

“In a year that has been filled with so much emotional and economic uncertainty, I’m so proud of the remarkable efforts our restaurant industry has collectively exhibited, bringing life, light, and hope to the city of New York. And I’m enormously grateful to our USHG team members who have gone to such great lengths to create the safest and most welcoming possible environment in which to serve our guests,” he added.

Related:Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group releases indoor dining game plan

He further encouraged his customers to patronize their favorite restaurants beyond USHG through pickup and delivery, buying holiday gift cards or contributing to their employee relief funds.  

Meyer said USHG staff would continue to cook meals for Rethink, which provides meals to people in need.

“We know there remain many hard weeks ahead of us, but with the recent uplifting announcements of advances in vaccines and treatments, we also know real hope is on the horizon,” Meyer said. “The minute winter weather is behind us and the environment returns to feeling safe, we will eagerly return to on-site dining — first on our sidewalks, and eventually in our dining rooms. We especially send our love and heartfelt thanks to the first responders, medical community, and essential workers who are keeping us safe. 

“Above all, we want to share our gratitude with you for your loyal friendship and steadfast support. It means more than ever!”

As COVID-19 cases rise in New York City as they are in much of the world, the city is bracing for further restrictions. Public schools shifted to remote learning earlier this week, and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday said that the state would likely order dining rooms to close again, after opening at 25% capacity on September 30, in a matter of weeks.

Related:Chip Wade, Patti Simpson of Union Square Hospitality Group join panel on diversity and inclusion at Restaurants Rise powered by MUFSO

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.

You May Also Like