"A new era," indeed.
The promises made by New York City democratic socialist (read: Marxist) Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani throughout his ominous campaign are likely to turn out far differently than the 34-year-old and his adherents have the capability to understand — including a flight of capital and talent from the city.
As a direct result of Mamdani's win, Stratis Morfogen, a New York restaurateur, author, and entrepreneur best known as the founder and CEO of Brooklyn Chop House and Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, has announced he’s pulling the plug on three new establishments in the city.
The third-generation restaurateur was resolute, saying (emphasis, mine):
I waited for the election before signing and now I’m not signing. I’m not signing any more leases in New York. I’ll keep what I have. We’re not expanding in New York but we are pursuing further opportunities in Miami and other cities. We just don’t feel that this mayor is suitable to supporting small businesses.
We want to wait and see what [Mamdani] does. His radical changes scare the s–t out of small business owners. There won’t be any more diners for $25 a person if a $12 burger goes up to $22. We will still have to pay our rent and our profit margin — at 10% — is too thin to survive.
Morfogen predicted that Mamdani's proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage to $30 by 2030 will “put fast-casual out of business.”
Of course, "this mayor" isn't interested in supporting businesses or wealthy residents of NYC, based on his repeated pledges to increase taxes on both.
In another high-profile example of business owners canceling expansion plans in the wake of Mamdani's win, Richie Romero, a veteran hospitality entrepreneur and "nightlife impresario" with over 30 years of experience shaping New York City's club and restaurant scene, came to the same conclusion as that of Morfogen, putting a halt on future plans in the city, except for a new location in the East Village, on which construction began months before the election.
Romero went bottom-line on his thoughts about Mamdani:
The hatred of Jews, socialism, the economics – it’s too much. I had to be vocal. I get attacked, but it is what it is.
Like Morfogen, Romero wasn't afraid to put his money where his mouth is. Is there any wonder?
MORE MAMDANI MADNESS: Kathy Hochul May Have Endorsed Mamdani, but She's a Hard No on One of His Key 'Free' Proposals
In a potentially more significant move, John Catsimatidis, billionaire owner of Red Apple Group and a dominant force in New York City’s grocery market, threatened in an interview with Forbes to move his business out of New York following the election.
Catsimatidis, whose estimated net worth is $4.8 billion, cited Mamdani's plans to introduce city-run grocery stores as a key reason for reconsidering his longstanding commitment to New York.
Even before Mamdani's win, Catsimatidis said, business has been tough in NYC in recent years:
We don't have any profit margins. [We've been losing money for] at least two years. Shoplifting is up to an all-time high. A lot of stuff is being closed up, which means that it's not easy for people to shop, so sales are down. Can you imagine a tax-free supermarket that pays no commercial rent tax, no sales tax… I mean, how do you compete against that? You can’t fight city hall.
Catsimatidis told Forbes he's now considering moving to Florida because of its lower corporate tax rates.
So What's a Business Owner to Do in Mamdani's Big Apple?
Clearly, Mamdani's touted lurch toward full-blown socialism, including plans for massive wealth redistribution, threatens not only business owners but also the entire economy of the financial capital of the world. While I'm not fond of "let that sink in" or "read that again," and other such admonitions, the threat to New York City and untold numbers of its eight-plus million residents is not only real; it's also too late to do anything about what's likely coming — practically speaking, anyway.
Mamdani's platform not only prioritizes aggressive wealth redistribution and expansive government intervention, it also "reimagines," as the Left is fond of saying, public safety, which critics argue will quash innovation, balloon costs for employers, and accelerate the exodus of capital and talent from the city, which has been underway since the COVID-19 "pandemic."
Toss in Mamdani's proposed "millionaire tax," a wealth-based confiscatory tax plan, which would raise revenue through the implementation of a two percent tax surcharge on residents earning in excess of over $1 million annually, and it's not hard to see darker days ahead for a city that wasn't in the best of shape before the young "democratic socialist" won.
Then again, what else can we expect?
