Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer is closing down two New York City restaurants at a hotel that has been converted into a migrant shelter, Eater New York reported Friday.
The restaurants Marta and Maialino, both owned by Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), will cease operations in the Redbury Hotel on Aug. 25, according to a release obtained by Eater New York.
“While we admire and respect the Redbury’s decision, the viability of our business relies significantly on hotel-related F&B operations,” the group wrote, according to Eater New York. “USHG is committed to finding job placements for all employees affected by the closures and will actively seek to find new homes for each of our restaurants.”
Danny Meyer’s NYC restaurants Maialino and Marta are closing next week because the hotel that houses them is being used to shelter migrants https://t.co/2QNLAMGHHg
— Businessweek (@BW) August 14, 2023
“We’re all eligible to leave or go to another restaurant that our restaurant group owns,” a Marta waiter told the New York Post before adding that the question of Marta reopening at another location is “a ‘when,’ not an ‘if.'”
Meyer previously joined a call with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, both Democrats, amid a push to find jobs for migrants awaiting asylum, Bloomberg reported. (RELATED: Dem Official Who Touted Vetting Of Migrants Now Closing Off County To Them After Two Sexual Assaults)
New York City anticipates spending $12 billion supporting migrants through 2025 amid a crisis many locals believe the city is ill-equipped to handle.