Press Releases
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 2025
Contact: (212) 839-4850, press@dot.nyc.gov
One-Month Until Roadway Dining Season: NYC DOT Cuts Red Tape to Allow More Restaurants to Operate
NYC DOT Grants Conditional Approvals for the Majority of Roadway Dining Applicants To Cut Bureaucratic Red Tape Ahead of April 1 Season Launch
Thousands of Roadway and Sidewalk Dining Setups Currently Permitted To Operate Under Dining Out NYC Rules
NEW YORK – New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced today the agency is cutting red tape by helping hundreds of restaurants currently moving through the cumbersome outdoor dining application process established by law. The move will help ensure that restaurants can operate roadway dining setups when the roadway dining season launches on April 1.
On Monday, March 3, NYC DOT will begin sending hundreds of letters to food service establishments granting conditional application approvals for roadway dining setups through Dining Out NYC. Conditional approval will be granted to all roadway dining applicants that have been heard at a legally mandated public hearing. The nearly 2,000 establishments with existing sidewalk-based outdoor dining were already allowed to operate while their applications were pending. With these conditional approvals, nearly 3,000 sidewalk and roadway setups will be permitted to operate. Sidewalk setups are allowed year-round and roadway setups can operate beginning April 1.
"New Yorkers love outdoor dining and it has made our streets more vibrant and welcoming public spaces," said NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. "Outdoor dining on our sidewalks and roadways has been a lifeline for many restaurants, and we are cutting through red tape to ensure that thousands of restaurants will be up and running as the weather warms."
NYC DOT has received close to 3,800 Dining Out NYC applications from more than 3,000 restaurants and has worked to make the program as accessible to restaurants as possible, connecting business owners to resources through the Dining Out NYC Marketplace and Setup Menu. The program is already more than two and half times the size of the pre-COVID sidewalk cafe program.
Currently, the vast majority of the 2,300 sidewalk cafe applications submitted to NYC DOT can already operate compliant setups as their applications are reviewed. Existing sidewalk setups were allowed to operate year-round, even if an application was pending. Through NYC DOT's conditional approvals, roadway cafe applications that received a legally mandated public hearing will now be clear to operate on April 1. The city has received more than 1,400 applications for roadway dining, and roughly 800 roadway cafe applicants will be eligible for conditional approvals by the start of the roadway dining season.
When the City Council created a permanent outdoor dining program, it required roadway cafes to be seasonal, operating from April 1 to November 29. The law also requires separate, lengthy approval processes for roadway and sidewalk setups, so that restaurants must file separate applications, with separate license fees, and receive separate revocable consent agreements and licenses for their roadway and sidewalk setups. The agency looks forward to discussing future reforms to improve the program with the City Council, including potential changes to the application process.
General Overview of Required Roadway Cafe Application Process
General Overview of Required Sidewalk Cafe Application Process
Through the conditional approval process, roadway setup applicants must have completed NYC DOT review and the community board review process, and NYC DOT must have held a public hearing on the application. Applicants that do not provide NYC DOT with the required documentation to move forward with the issuance of their license within a certain time frame, or fail to comply with Dining Out NYC rules, will have their conditional approvals rescinded.
Restaurants that have applied for a roadway dining set up, received a public hearing, but have not received a conditional approval can reach out to NYC DOT at DiningOutNYC@dot.nyc.gov.