Manhattan culinary staple China Fun shutters, blaming government over-regulation
Albert Wu, the son of China Fun’s owners, said the small business was impossible to maintain under a mountain of bureaucratic regulations.
(HOWARD SIMMONS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
For 25 years, China Fun was renowned for its peerless soup dumplings and piquant General Tso’s chicken.
What left a bad taste in the mouths of its owners and loyal patrons was the restaurant’s sudden Jan. 3 closing, blamed by management on suffocating government demands.
“The climate for small businesses like ours in New York have become such that it’s difficult to justify taking risks and running — nevermind starting — a legitimate mom-and-pop business,” read a letter posted by the owners in the restaurant’s front door.
“The state and municipal governments, with their punishing rules and regulations, seems to believe that we should be their cash machine to pay for all that ails us in society.”
The Second Ave. restaurant became a beloved local mainstay, with customers bemoaning its unexpected disappearance. The Daily News hailed the soup dumplings as the best on the Upper East Side in 2015.
“So sad to learn @ChinaFunNYC closed,” tweeted fitness blogger Amanda Lauren. “I grew up on the UES and it was my fav Chinese restaurant. Pouring out a green tea for you, China Fun.”
The restaurant’s interior is dismantled.
(HOWARD SIMMONS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Albert Wu, whose parents Dorothea and Felix owned the eatery, said the endless paperwork and constant regulation that forced the shutdown accumulated over the years.
“When we started out in 1991, the lunch special was $4 a plate,” he recalled. “Now it’s $10, $12. The cost of doing business is just too onerous.”
Wu cited one regulation where the restaurant was required to provide an on-site break room for workers despite its limited space. And he blamed the amount of paperwork now required — an increasingly difficult task for a non-chain businesses.
“In a one-restaurant operation like ours, you’re spending more time on paperwork than you are trying to run your business,” he griped.
Increases in the minimum wage, health insurance and insurance added to a list of 10 issues provided by Wu. “And I haven’t even gone into the Health Department rules and regulations,” he added.
Neighbors read the surprise notice posted to the restaurant’s door.
(HOWARD SIMMONS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
The de Blasio administration noted the city provides free help to small businesses. The “Small Business First” initiative helps owners save time and money while reducing the amount of paperwork.
Free compliance advisors are available for on-sight consultation aimed at helping small businesses comply with regulations.
“The NYC Department of Small Business Services makes it easier for businesses to start, operate, and grow, including by helping businesses navigate important City regulations,” said spokesman Nick Benson.
But Adele Malpass, Manhattan Republican Party chairwoman, said the issues cited by the Wu family are common complaints.
“For smaller businesses like China Fun, each little thing that occurs makes it harder,” said Malpass. “Each regulation, each tax — you put it all together and it’s just a hostile business environment.”
No matter how generous for the union member the business owner is always the enemy.
Former Carnegie Deli workers hungry for their jobs back protest outside the shuttered restaurant
The diner — famous for its gut-busting sandwiches — told its employees in September that it would close for good at the end of December, according to a spokeswoman for the owner.
(SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Workers at a famous Manhattan deli are in a real pickle after getting laid off at the end of the holiday season.
Thirty-five members of UNITE—HERE Local 100 marched outside Carnegie Deli at 55th St. and Seventh Ave. on Friday — waving picket signs and chanting, “Bring back our deli jobs.”
The diner — famous for its gut-busting sandwiches — told its employees in September that it would close for good at the end of December, according to a spokeswoman for the owner.
But its employees haven’t given up hope on a reprieve.
“We are here (to beg) the owner of the Carnegie to reopen and accept all of the employees that work here to come back to work for her,” said Rachaneeuuan Sriphud, 63, of Queens.
Sriphud, known as Toy to employees and customers at the restaurant, worked as a waitress at Carnegie Deli for 27 years.
“I’ve worked here more than two-thirds of my life, (it’s given) me very good support for my family,” said the mother of two.
Like the other laid-off workers, Sriphud was at a loss to explain the owner’s decision to close the deli.
The owner, Marian Harper-Levine, told workers she couldn’t manage the deli anymore, the waitress said.
“This place is very, very good. People all over the world know it as the world’s most famous deli,” Sriphud said.
“This place runs itself, believe me. I make more money than ever within these last 10 years."
Employees are holding out hope the deli will reopen.
(SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Mohammed Chowdhury, 44, who goes by the moniker Salim to other staff and diners, is a Queens resident and father of two who has been a waiter at the deli since 1999.
“I was very, very heartbroken .... I believe they'll reopen, of course they'll reopen, this is the busiest restaurant in the world," he said.
Chowdhury said he served former President Bill Clinton and boxing legend Muhammad Ali while working at the deli.
He’s so convinced Carnegie Deli will reopen, he’s not even looking for another job, he said.
He sees the closure as a union-busting tactic for new management to step in and take over the profitable business.
Thirty-five members of UNITE—HERE Local 100 marched outside Carnegie Deli at 55th St. and Seventh Ave. on Friday — waving picket signs and chanting, “Bring back our deli jobs.”
(SUSAN WATTS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
“I believe ... they make a plan, take the union out, break the union first, and then they'll reopen — this is my opinion,” he said. “It’s very sad.”
Cristyne Nicholas, a spokeswoman for the deli owner, said Harper-Levine made sure to give employees three months’ notice — and kept the deli running through Christmas because she knew it was their busiest season.
She denied any attempt at union-busting as a motive for the shut down.
“The union contract ... expired on Nov. 30. However, Carnegie Deli management honored the contract beyond its terms for an additional 30 days, operating under the same benefits and agreements which had been in place the previous four years,” she said.
She added that the owner closed the deli on Christmas Day but paid employees anyway so they could enjoy the day at home with their families.
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