Restaurants Are Setting Up Shop in Empty Hotel Suites
Chefs are pushing aside the beds and redefining the meaning of a private dining room.
In Philadelphia, Walnut Street Cafe is using suites at AKA University City as private dining rooms.
Photographer: Lexy Pierce
Faced with a winter full of indoor and outdoor dining shutdowns, chefs across the country have discovered a new place to feed customers: hotel rooms that stand empty during the pandemic.
From Brooklyn, New York, to Minneapolis, restaurants are turning suites into private dining rooms for small groups. This comes at a time when the country’s hotel occupancy rates remain at historic lows—65% are below 50 % occupancy—and the restaurant industry faces continued job and revenue loss.