In 2020, chef and restaurateur Neilly Robinson was approaching the end of a nine-month long struggle to secure a lease on a Philadelphia property. She planned to open a second location of Heirloom Kitchen, her restaurant and cooking school in Old Bridge, NJ—then, Covid shut everything down. “We kind of dodged a massive bullet in that we hadn’t signed an actual lease yet,” she says.

The onset of Covid was the first of a string of challenges the restaurant industry has faced in recent times. “Five years later, much of that period still feels like a blur, largely because so much changed so quickly,” Robinson says. “The toughest part was the constant uncertain-ty—making decisions without a clear roadmap while trying to keep revenue coming in and retain our team.”

Years after the pandemic’s height, the industry continues to be in turmoil. Many New Jersey restaurants, even renowned ones like Common Lot in Millburn, Canal House in Milford, and Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen in Morristown, have closed in the past 18 months. The businesses that remain have had to completely revamp their approach to an industry that has largely gone unchanged since the 18th century.

“Since Covid, we’ve opened three new concepts, closed one, and meaningfully pivoted two others,” says Robinson. “Adaptation has become part of our operating philosophy.”

A Post-Covid Boom

While the pandemic itself was a rough patch for many restaurants, those who survived its early months with their lockdowns and other restrictions experienced an unexpected boost in the aftermath. Yes, people were staying home and eating more takeout, but they were also supporting more local businesses. When things opened up again, Robinson says, things returned to pre-Covid normalcy, and then some.

“In 2022 and 2023, people were dining out frequently, spending freely, and restaurants felt energized again,” she says. “On top of that, relief programs like PPP created a moment where many operators had more cash on hand than they’d ever seen, which helped fuel a wave of new restaurant openings.” The Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, provided forgivable loans to small businesses during the pandemic, so they could continue to pay employees.

Chef Marilyn Schlossbach, who runs the Whitechapel Projects restaurant and brewery in Long Branch, saw the catering side of her business explode post-pandemic. “Coming out of Covid, everybody wanted to get married, or have a big party,” she says. “They had income they hadn’t been using, they had family members they hadn’t seen.”

Schlossbach, who had gone without income for seven months after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, knew her businesses couldn’t survive another hit like that during the pandemic. She had connections to local food banks and immediately reached out to state politicians to secure grants to pay her restaurants to make meals for local schools, senior centers, and churches during that time.

“We had done a lot of that kind of work in the past, so it wasn’t too hard to pivot,” she says. “Honestly, if we wouldn’t have been able to do that; we would have gone bankrupt. There would have been no way for us to continue.”

Unfortunately, she says, the big post-Covid boom came to an abrupt halt in 2025. “Everyone is scaling back now,” she says. Of the nine restaurants she operated before Covid, Whitechapel Projects is the only one that remains. And unlike during the early days of Covid, when the global nature of the pandemic led to national financial help, a lot of restaurateurs have been left to navigate these new challenges alone.

A Major Shift in Habits and Expectations

Robinson credits an entrepreneurial spirit with helping her navigate Covid and beyond.

“There was a willingness to do whatever it took, to adapt quickly, and to meet the moment head-on rather than wait for conditions to improve,” she says. “We’re more disciplined, more intentional, and ultimately stronger for having navigated that period.”

That’s good, because shifting economic conditions and changing dining habits are making it necessary for the food service industry to pivot yet again. Many are doing this by seeking out new revenue streams. Canal House is focusing on its cookbook content; Heirloom Kitchen has had success with cooking classes, which Robinson says sell out the day they are announced. Schlossbach has dipped a toe into retail and developed a moringa beauty oil, and helped a former employee launch Two River Mushroom, a company that sells mushroom CSAs and broth. Other restaurants are experimenting with VIP membership models that offer primo reservations, discounts, or other perks.

The traditional fine-dining experience of going out and choosing from an a la carte menu is changing, too. People are dining differently than they did just a few years ago, Schlossbach says: “7:00 is the new 9:00.” And when they do go out, they want more than just a meal, they want an experience.

“Now people are very educated and more into food than ever before,” says Tom Greco, owner of Pop Empanada in Park Ridge. “It was a trend that was happening, but Covid accelerated it because people were at home. More people than ever before had to cook. And that led to them discovering good food.”

Pop Empanada started as a ghost kitchen that only existed on food delivery services. “It literally kept us alive through Covid,” says Greco, who had to shutter his South American steakhouse K Rico and a nightclub in Hell’s Kitchen. “We all kind of saw the writing on the wall,” he says. “Finance people weren’t entertaining clients in the city anymore, and then the legalization of marijuana destroyed drinking culture.”

Greco talked his cousin, a former sous chef at Nobu, into setting up a pasta studio below the empanada shop, and the two began collaborating on a six-course supper club for their friends. They hosted it on Pop Empanada’s first floor, which is decorated with pieces of Greco’s own pop art collection, and brought in a yakitori grill.

The first dinner was such a success, they did another, and another, until the Thursday-night gatherings caught local attention. “There were lots of rumors that we were mafia or running a gambling operation or something,” Greco says. He decided to open it up to the public and posted reservations on Open Table. That Supper Club has sold out every week since then through word of mouth alone. The venue is BYOB, with a menu that changes every four weeks. The vibe is more like a private dinner party than traditional restaurant dining.

“I like it because it’s an event,” Greco says. “Guests arrive at 7, mingle, and then we clean up and go home. Knowing the menu and number of guests ahead of time makes it easier to cut down on food waste and employee costs.” Greco, his wife, Pia, and sometimes his son pull host and server duties.

“I hope this is not the death knell for fine dining,” Greco says. “I love fine dining. But I think there are going to be a lot of creative things that come out of a tough situation, and that’s great because the dining world needed something a little different. You couldn’t just go white linen tablecloths forever.”

Flexibility and Creativity

More menus are taking Greco’s lead and using a prix fixe model to curtail costs. When Robinson opened Lita, a tapas restaurant in Aberdeen Township in April 2023, the menu was a la carte, but they pretty quickly shifted to a prix fixe menu. The restaurant also operates on a unique structure that addresses another major issue for restaurants: employee wages.

Payroll is one of the biggest expenses of running a restaurant. “After Covid, wages went up,” says Schlossbach. “People couldn’t get staff, so they were offering crazy amounts of money to people. I don’t think we have been able to catch up to that.” Greco points out that the cost of things like workers’ comp and disability insurance are based on dollars spent, so those costs increase for employers as well, even when the number of employees hasn’t changed.

“The restaurant model was always kind of built on a broken model,” says Robinson. “It always worked on super, super, super slim margins. Now that the costs of goods and labor are at record highs, the traditional restaurant business model is under real strain.”

Flexibility, once again, has been key to solving this problem. At Lita, every team member rotates between front of house and back of house positions on a weekly basis, and all non-management team members start at the same base salary, and split tips evenly.

“You have to pay people a living wage,” Robinson says. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Some other ways restaurant owners are looking to cut costs and cater to the new guest-driven desire for experiential dining? Pop-ups.

“ADAPTATION HAS BECOME PART OF OUR OPERATING PHILOSOPHY.”

“Brick-and-mortar is just too expensive now,” says Greco. He has invested in a food trailer with air-fryer empanadas for pop-up events including the Jersey City Jazz Festival and the Governor’s Ball. He says he’s already booked for the coming summer. “It’s the most economical way, and the only way to do food right now,” he says.

In a similar vein, he has planned pop-up dinners including a traditional lobster boil at Atkins Glen Park. “I got permission to do a long table for 75 people in the middle of the park,” he says. Such events are a way to keep costs contained while still exercising creativity with the menu and setting.

In spite of some setbacks, and the continued obstacles thrown at them, restaurant owners remain optimistic.

“I’m really excited about the future of the culinary arts,” Greco says. Schlossbach is planning to open a French bistro concept in Spring Lake, hopefully by Memorial Day this year. She’s hoping it will become a neighborhood go-to, a place with a “Cheers” vibe where everyone knows you. “The hospitality piece of the restaurant industry is what I crave,” she says. “I love when people come in and have an experience that makes them feel good. I want to get back to creating a place where people can come and enjoy being taken care of. That’s not as prevalent anymore.”

That does harken back to traditional fine dining, something Robinson says is becoming more of a niche pastime in New Jersey.

“At the core, you have to love being hospitable,” she says. “When that’s genuine, it comes back to you tenfold—through your guests, your team, and the longevity of the work itself. This industry demands long hours, constant adaptability, and showing up every day as a professional problem solver. It’s not meant for everyone. You have to truly love it—that’s the only real key to survival.”

As Covid and other outside influences have shaped the way we deliver food and hospitality, restaurants and the people who work in them have to keep pace. “Today, guests are telling us they want fewer rules. They want more agency to choose what they eat, how they eat it, and how the experience fits into their lives,” Robinson says. “Fine dining isn’t over, but it does have to evolve.”

POP EMPANADA / THAT SUPPER CLUB
7 Hawthorne Ave., Park Ridge
201.746.0000 | @popempanadas

WHITECHAPEL PROJECTS
15 2nd Ave., Long Branch
732.963.9218 | whitechapelprojects.com

HEIRLOOM KITCHEN
3853 County Rd. 516, Old Bridge
732.727.9444 | heirloomkitchen.com

LITA
1055 NJ-34, Aberdeen Twp.
732.696.8517 | thelovelylita.com

JUDY AND HARRY’S
408A 7th Ave., Asbury Park (Inside The St. Laurent)
732.795.2582 | judyandharrys.com