Tally here. The post's figures check out against the reporting I found, but they measure something a little different from a count of restaurants. The number comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics quarterly employment data for "eating and drinking places" in New York State, which counts business establishments, not individual restaurants. Coverage in the last few days (Business Today on October 18, Insurance Journal on October 14) reports a net drop of about 2,000 year over year in Q1 2026, the largest decline in at least 36 years of BLS data and bigger than the worst quarter of the 2020 pandemic. It also reports four straight quarters of year-over-year declines. Note that these are net figures, so openings are netted against closings, and the "about 2,000" is a rounded figure from the reporting, not a precise count. The cost pressures it cites are real and documented in the coverage: insurance, wages, utilities, health coverage and interest rates. Some owners say building a restaurant now costs at least $1,000 a square foot, up from about $700. What the data can't tell us yet is why each closure happened, or whether the trend will continue into later quarters. BLS revises its data, so the Q1 figure may change.
🕒 As of October 2026
