Cafe Owner Says He Was Forced to Cut Staff by Nearly a Fourth Because of 'Occupy

[MCWAY]

Cafe Owner Says He Was Forced to Cut Staff by Nearly a Fourth Because of 'Occupy' 

A New York City cafe cut its staff by nearly 25 percent last week because of lost business due to the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, the cafe's owner told FoxNews.com.

Marc Epstein, owner of the Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, said he had to cut 21 of the 97 members of his staff on Thursday and Friday after seeing sales plummet by 30 percent in the six weeks since the protests began. He's also been forced to slash the restaurant operating hours, moving up his closing time from 9 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays.

The incessant noise and police activity aside, Epstein said the biggest obstacle to his business has been the ubiquitous New York police barricades surrounding Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.

"It's not only a physical impediment, it's a psychological impediment," Epstein told FoxNews.com. "You look down Wall Street now, and it looks like it's under siege. So, people who have to walk down Wall Street don't walk down Wall Street. It used to be a beautiful pedestrian mall, and now it's not -- it's ugly."

If the barricades are not removed, Epstein said he "cannot see" how his business could sustain itself. The eatery, which opened in June, is a $4 million venture and is an expansion of the Boston restaurant he and his wife opened decades earlier.

"It's my first venture in New York and my last venture in New York," he said.

Epstein said he has pleaded with city officials, the New York police and his landlord, Donald Trump, to get the barricades removed, but he has been unable to get a return call from the city and the New York police. He was told by Trump himself, however, that the real estate mogul would try to contact city officials in hopes of removing the barricades.

Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said city officials are discussing potential solutions with Milk Street Cafe and other businesses near the protests on an ongoing basis.

"We have been working with businesses and the community to address the issues caused by the protests and will continue to do so," he told FoxNews.com.

FoxNews.com's calls seeking comment from New York police officials were not returned on Tuesday.

Trump, who owns a 68-story skyscraper near the site, told FoxNews.com that Epstein is not the only business owner taking a severe hit since the protests began.

"It's a very sad situation," Trump told FoxNews.com by phone. "They opened up to rave reviews and now because of Occupy Wall Street, nobody's going down there. People are shunning the area; it's a very big problem."

Trump said he is "in the process" of discussing the potential removal of the barricades with city officials.

"I hope so," Trump said when asked if he thought city officials will be sympathetic to his request.

Prior to last week's terminations, Epstein told Bloomberg late last month that the police barricades surrounding Zuccotti Park have deterred shoppers and caused about a 20 percent drop in sales.

Asked if he felt the protesters realized they were hurting his business, Epstein replied: "I'm very afraid of getting into what they are thinking and whether it's the police or the protesters because I don't want to get mixed up in the battle between them. But everyone should understand the consequences of their actions and nobody is."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/01/owner-occupy-wall-street-cost-restaurant-21-jobs-and-counting/?test=latestnews

Good job, geniuses. You just cost a bunch of people their jobs, and at the end of the day, those 'evil' Wall Street bubbas are still BALLIN'!!

[Soul Crusher]

These commie dirtbags dont give a fuck.   

[dario73]

That's unavoidable collateral damage for the idiotic left.

Of course, they don't see that they are not accomplishing anything by sitting at that park. If they had invaded the area surrounding the White House and the U.S. Capitol in D.C., it might have been a different story.

[240 is Back]

sounds like he's playing the victim.

a true businessman would have gotten some Hugo Chavez shirts, iPad accessory cases in china Red, and sold TP for $2 per roll.

Business would have tripled.

[Soul Crusher]

sounds like he's playing the victim.

a true businessman would have gotten some Hugo Chavez shirts, iPad accessory cases in china Red, and sold TP for $2 per roll.

Business would have tripled.

  

[240 is Back]

nice attack on 240, but am I right?

Smart shopkeepers would see this as a challenge and an opportunity.  I cannot understand why a cafe would do WORSE with thousands of new foot traffic kids of the starbucks generation needing their caff rush....

but aside from that - if 10,000 of those dirtbags set up shop on my lawn, i'd be out there selling them fresh white t-shirts, umbrellas, toilet paper, and granola.  Pretend hippies love that granola.

IMO, this guy is too busy whining on Fox "news" and not busy enough exploiting thousands of people walking past his store every day.  I can assure you if he sold these items or anything like it, he'd be lovin on them.

[Soul Crusher]

nice attack on 240, but am I right?

Smart shopkeepers would see this as a challenge and an opportunity.  I cannot understand why a cafe would do WORSE with thousands of new foot traffic kids of the starbucks generation needing their caff rush....

but aside from that - if 10,000 of those dirtbags set up shop on my lawn, i'd be out there selling them fresh white t-shirts, umbrellas, toilet paper, and granola.  Pretend hippies love that granola.

IMO, this guy is too busy whining on Fox "news" and not busy enough exploiting thousands of people walking past his store every day.  I can assure you if he sold these items or anything like it, he'd be lovin on them.

No moron! ! ! !   Those grifters and commie dirtbags you love so much NEVEr pay for anything.   

[240 is Back]

No moron! ! ! !   Those grifters and commie dirtbags you love so much NEVEr pay for anything.   

how the hell do they have $5500 laptops then? 

you know i'm right. this guy is bitching when he should be selling toilet paper or bathroom passes for $2 a trip.

Of course, since it's a fox new "victim" piece, and you new generation of repubs like to cry and be the victiim all day, you don't agree he should exploit the dirtbags.

[Soul Crusher]

how the hell do they have $5500 laptops then? 

you know i'm right. this guy is bitching when he should be selling toilet paper or bathroom passes for $2 a trip.

Of course, since it's a fox new "victim" piece, and you new generation of repubs like to cry and be the victiim all day, you don't agree he should exploit the dirtbags.

    


their folks bough the expensive lap tops. 

Whatever - bro - I'm not kidding - I get pms from others as to what happened to you over the last two years.   You have become a mere shadow of your former self.   

[240 is Back]

   


their folks bough the expensive lap tops. 

Whatever - bro - I'm not kidding - I get pms from others as to what happened to you over the last two years.   You have become a mere shadow of your former self.   

look, i called the OWS kids dirtbags and condoned hitting them with firehoses.  I'm not exactly sympathizing with them

However, I do feel if he's going to deal with 10k people in new foot traffice every day - people who sleep in tents and lack the basics - and he sells COFFEE - he could be doing a million things to cash in.  Seriously.  Am I wrong?  SHould he just keep selling coffee?  Or adjust to this new opportunity?

Hell, hit the local printer, get "OWS NYC" printed on a thousand shirts for $2.50 a pop, and sell them for $10 each.  Make seven grand a week cash, just like that.

Am I wrong?

[Soul Crusher]

Some douche alreadt TM 'ed the name 

[blacken700]

No moron! ! ! !   Those grifters and commie dirtbags you love so much NEVEr pay for anything.   

i thought t they were rich and lived in nice houses 

[Soul Crusher]

i thought t they were rich and lived in nice houses 

They do, paid for by the labor of someone else - you know - the liberal way!   

[blacken700]

 Those grifters and commie dirtbags you love so much NEVEr pay for anything.   who said this 

[Skip8282]

Now the employees that he cut will become OWS and before long nobody in NY will be working.