Homeward Bound

"The expense, return on investment, and volume of investors needed to make it a reality did not make sense. I thought, 'maybe it's time to do something new.' The amount of money you need to run a restaurant in Brooklyn or Manhattan at this point is so crazy. If you fail, the loss is massive. Here, we were able to do a major renovation, we have a 100 bottle wine list, and we can use the ingredients we want and serve them at a decent price point because our overhead is not as bad."

"Big cities are great places for a chef to step into the spotlight and garner press and accolades. But they're also places of high burnout, mounting costs, and staggering rents. Which is why a lot more big city chefs-from New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia and beyond -are opting to jump ship and swim in a smaller pond, many moving back home where they can turn the volume down on the chaos."

High-profile chefs from major cities like New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia are relocating to smaller towns to open restaurants with lower overhead costs and better financial viability. Randall Restiano, formerly a beverage director at Gramercy Tavern, exemplifies this trend by opening La Chitarra in Bronxville, Westchester, where renovation costs and operational expenses are significantly lower than Manhattan. The move allows chefs to maintain quality ingredients and reasonable pricing while avoiding the massive financial risks associated with urban restaurant failures. This migration pattern, termed "boomerangs" by food writer Adam Reiner, reflects broader challenges in big-city hospitality including hostile regulations, mounting costs, staggering rents, and high burnout rates. Smaller towns offer chefs opportunities to reduce stress while maintaining culinary standards.

Read at Bon Appetit