Eleven Madison Park, One of the World’s Best Restaurants, Will Reopen After All

(Bloomberg) -- Eleven Madison Park’s chef-owner Daniel Humm says that his fine-dining Manhattan restaurant will reopen for business during the next six months. This follows several months in which the future of the restaurant, named No. 1 in the world in 2017, was in question.

In May, Humm told Bloomberg Pursuits that he was not certain he would again serve customers in the soaring space off Madison Park, even after the pandemic ends. “It will take millions of dollars to reopen,” he said at the time. “You have to bring back staff. I work with fancy equipment in a big space. I want to continue to cook with the most beautiful and precious ingredients in a creative way, but at the same time, it needs to make sense.”

Now, Humm has confirmed that Eleven Madison Park will be back in business, according to an interview by writer-photographer Gary He on his Astrolabe site. Humm says he worked out a deal with his landlord—he didn’t share details—that would allow him to reopen in a best case scenario by November, with a March reopening a “worst case scenario.”

New York currently does not have a timeline for allowing indoor dining in the city, though outdoor dining is scheduled to end on Oct. 31.

Humm also said that “the banks” agreed that he would not have to pay back loans in the near future.

“If you let your employees go, and you don't have to pay rent and the bank loan, things are not that expensive anymore,” said Humm, according to Astrolabe. “But it’s tough, for me to not make a dollar for a year, that sucks.”

The chef-owner has not outlined what the restaurant might look like, or if it will continue to offer a format similar to the $355 tasting menu that made it one of the priciest meals in the city.

Since closing EMP in March, Humm has activated his restaurant as a commissary kitchen for Rethink, a nonprofit dedicated to feeding people in need with leftover food from suppliers and restaurants. The program, which started in New York, is expanding to other cities, including Chicago and San Francisco. Corporate partners include such companies as Brookfield Properties Ltd, which donated $1 million toward the endeavor, which includes kitchens from Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. EMP prepares around 4,000 meals a day for Rethink to distribute to hungry New Yorkers.

Humm’s staff currently totals about 24 people; he furloughed 250 when his restaurant closed.

In the March interview with Bloomberg Pursuits, Humm maintained that if he were to reopen, the way he operated his restaurant would change. He work with Rethink had made him highly aware of how most of the world eats, not just the diners who could afford his prix fixe menu.

“Any way that EMP reopens—and it’s like a blank canvas right now; we would need to redefine what luxury means—it will also be an opportunity to continue to feed people who don’t have anything,” he said in May. “I don’t need to only feed the 1% anymore.”

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