Montauk’s usually bustling restaurants are suffering a dramatic dropoff as soaring hotel prices push inflation-hit Hamptons revelers to look for cheaper destinations, Side Dish has learned.
Wine and spirits reps who sell to Montauk restaurants said that “on premise” sales are down around 20% this year.
“That’s a really big number,” said one full-time East End rep, adding that hotels are “light” during the week while weekends are still “heavy.”
The higher lodging costs partly stem from private equity firms in recent years buying up the few rustic inns that dot the traditionally blue-collar haven.
Some have been converted to high-end resorts, with prices that top $1,000 a night for a midweek stay.
“It’s cheaper to buy a ticket and go to Europe than vacation in Montauk,” said Jayma Cardoso, owner of the 20-room Surf Lodge, one of Montauk’s hottest nightlife spots.
“People who came for the month might now only come for a week or weekend.”
Donny Evans – a restaurant consultant and founder of multiple Hamptons food festivals – is among those who ditched the South Fork this summer after decades there.
Instead, he’s renting on the North Fork.
“You get more for your money,” he said. “People are fed up with the prices and are spending less.”
Of course, there are exceptions in Montauk. Classic spots, often with the best sunset views, from Crow’s Nest to Duryea’s, where Jennifer Lopez was recently spotted, are still going strong.
But restaurateur Piero Zangarini, of popular spots including Sí Sí Mediterranean Restaurant and this season’s new favorite, N’AMO, said he has seen a change in spending habits.
“Instead of going out three times a week, they are going out two times a week,” he said. “There are less people around during the week.”
One Montauk favorite, Sel Rrose, didn’t bother opening this summer, instead leasing the space to a pop-up ‘kitchen takeover’ by East Hampton wellness joint Daily Dose.
It closed at the end of July. Sel Rrose owner Kristin Vincent said she might open just for weekends during August.
The restaurant was a frequent target of East Hampton’s notorious noise police since opening in 2019, as Side Dish previously reported – similar to this summer’s run-ins that Zero Bond owner Scott Sartiano has faced at his eponymous eatery at the Hedges Inn in neighboring East Hampton Village.
“As a restaurant owner, we are getting super pressed from all sides. But we can only be pushed so far,” said Vincent, whose stylish oyster bar and restaurant is named for artist Marcel Duchamp’s female alter ego.
“We are only open a few months a year. There is little room for profit. You can only raise your prices so much before you lose your customers.”
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