Fast-casual food spots are fast conquering Midtown to fill long-empty storefronts — buoyed by more office workers returning to their desks five days a week.
The boom includes not only familiar names such as Pret a Manger and Sweetgreen, but also brands new to New York. “Coming soon” signs just went up in the windows of 40 W. 53rd St. for Farmer J, a UK-based, health-focused chain with 11 locations in London and expanding to the U.S. for the first time.
Pollo Campero, which its broker, Meridian Retail Leasing president James Famularo, called “the Chick-fil-A of Guatemala,” was unknown here until it opened at 966 Sixth Ave. and at 714 Lexington Ave. about a year ago. Famularo also brought Springbone Kitchen, a bone broth operation, to 25 E. 51st where he represented the landlord.
Landlords and retail brokers attribute the boom to the return of five-day office workweeks for many employees.
“A lot of this is a function of people returning five days a week, and major companies believe Midtown and the Financial District are viable again,” said Patrick A. Smith, vice chairman of retail brokerage for JLL.
Five-day work schedules are crucial to casual food businesses because, Smith explained, “They mostly have to survive on one meal a day — lunch. They can’t do it on only three days a week.”
Famularo agreed, saying, “The big story is that people are back in the offices. This is after years of hearing the city will never be back to five days a week, which was the biggest impediment we found when we showed midtown spaces.”
CBRE’s Henry Rossignol, who represented Joe & the Juice in its latest lease at 1195 Sixth Ave., also attributed operators’ confidence to data they get from delivery services such as Uber Eats and DoorDash, “which tells them exactly where the demand is at a particular location.” The newest Joe is right across from the next outpost of Naya, the popular Middle Eastern chain that’s gobbling up storefronts everywhere.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Steven Soutendijk, who represented Carrot Express in its lease at 600 Lexington Ave. two years ago, said the corner location is the Florida-based chain’s best performer. He said as a result of the fast-casual spread, “There’s basically no space available for any more between Lexington and Seventh avenues,” Soutendijk said.
Some of the new arrivals are taking over spaces that were dark for years. A bagel operation called Scoop is coming to previously vacant 7 E. 53rd St.
Also new to the scene are Yumpling, a Taiwanese spot at 16 E. 52nd St.; British coffee-and-snacks chain WatchHouse, which just signed a lease at the Chrysler Building on the heels of its success at 660 Fifth Ave.; and Bagizza, a pizza-and-bagels hybrid at 424 Madison Ave.
Asking rents vary a lot depending on location. But most brokers said they range in Midtown from $150 to $300 per square foot.
After years of struggling with a shrunken retail-space markets, landlords are thrilled that fast-casual is helping take up the slack.
“The tides are finally turning,” Famularo said. “What was a glut of inventory, now is slowly disappearing every week.”
