Los Angeles is one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in the world, reflected by its nearly 11,000 food and beverage businesses with a dining and social scene that rivals New York, Tokyo and Paris. LA is home to a world-renowned culinary scene and passionate leaders, including the late Jonathan Gold, the first-ever Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic and 2022 Treasures honorees Genevieve Gergis and Ori Menashe, owners of acclaimed restaurants Bestia and Bavel in the Arts District that chose to run their businesses in our growing, vibrant Downtown.
As the heart of LA, Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) plays a major role in the city’s culinary landscape:
- DTLA is just one percent of the city’s land but home to 10 percent of its food and beverage businesses.1
- With 157 of these businesses per square mile, DTLA has nearly seven times the density of places to eat and drink compared with the rest of the city, which has 23 per square mile.2
- Beverly Hills is the only other area with as many Michelin-starred restaurants as DTLA (four).3
- Over the past decade, jobs gains in the Accommodation and Food Services sector have outpaced growth in all jobs throughout LA, but in DTLA the sector has grown by 74 percent compared with 38 percent in the city.4
CCA is proud to champion the creative chefs and entrepreneurs of Downtown and the city, and we know our collective support is especially meaningful in the wake of the pandemic when many of us rightly made every effort to support our local businesses and local government provided support through grants, new delivery and pickup parking spots and the successful al fresco outdoor dining program. While life seems to be returning to a greater sense of normalcy, at CCA we are resolved to build on the lessons we learned during the pandemic so that we can recover stronger in Downtown and across the Los Angeles region. For us, that means applying takeaways from the recently adopted Restaurant Beverage Program (RBP) to other policies and initiatives in the city, especially those related to our renowned food and drink scene.
The RBP makes it more efficient, cost effective and predictable for sit-down restaurants that serve alcohol to obtain their permits. Amid an industry with tight margins, alcohol sales typically account for 30 percent of restaurant revenues, and greater flexibility around alcohol sales was important for helping businesses stay afloat during the pandemic.5 The RBP is an important milestone for LA’s restaurant industry and a model for future economic development initiatives for setting upfront rules that all businesses can follow, saving time and providing more certainty for both businesses and communities.
While the existing process takes a minimum of six months, requires a public hearing and costs approximately $15,000 – the RBP will cut down the process to about 4 weeks and $5,000. This is a big win for one of LA’s most important industries and particularly lowers barriers to access for small businesses, which are the backbone of our local economy as they consist of over 95 percent of establishments in DTLA.6 We commend the City Council, Mayor and departments for delivering the RBP and recommend building off this success by considering the following pandemic-related lessons to improve future processes and increase support for our inspiring, award-winning restaurateurs across the city.
Timelines should reflect the urgent needs of our vital hospitality industry. The RBP is commonsense legislation that was first introduced in 2017 and took nearly five years to adopt. Even after the pandemic caused businesses to abruptly cease operations, disproportionately impacting food and beverage businesses, two years passed before adoption of this measure that was urgently needed to support a deeply impacted industry. Although the RBP has been adopted, it is still not yet in effect citywide due to a requirement that it be implemented at the discretion of each councilmember.
To date, a handful of Council Districts have introduced resolutions to apply the RBP within their districts. We are hopeful that DTLA will soon be included in the RBP given the critical role our neighborhood plays in LA’s food and beverage landscape. We are encouraged by a letter from the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council that calls for a resolution to opt most of DTLA into the RBP and we look forward to working with our DTLA councilmembers to make sure all of DTLA becomes eligible soon.
Caption: LA’s Al Fresco dining program helped businesses operate during the early months of the pandemic. Parking spots became outdoor dining at Wurstküche in DTLA’s Arts District. Photo: www.wurstkuche.com
Actions should be consistent with stated goals. The City’s first-ever Tourism Master Plan includes an objective to “Develop and position Los Angeles as a leading culinary destination.” CCA supports and advocates for this goal, however we observe inhospitality toward businesses in practice that contradicts the City’s purported vision. Stories like the RBP’s lengthy adoption timeline are unfortunately all too common. For instance, the Local Emergency Ordinance, which waived certain permitting deadlines and parking requirements, took 18 months to enact. This is a relatively short timeframe for legislation, but an eternity for a small business needing immediate support. We also too often hear of the challenges that businesses face with basic process steps, such as scheduling a public hearing, being notified that their applications need more information or meeting with an official.
To support LA as a culinary and cultural capital that is welcoming to small food and beverage businesses, we need to collectively embrace the lessons we learned from implementing the RBP. This will help us continue to develop industry-focused solutions, as well as more broadly work to ensure our neighborhoods and city are safe and livable. Together with our robust, diverse coalition we can continue to support LA by elevating industry expertise and ensuring policies are clear, comprehensive and responsive to the ever-evolving future.
1 https://downtownla.com/business/reports-and-research/dtla-2022
2 Ibid.
3 https://la.eater.com/maps/los-angeles-michelin-restaurants-stars-2019-map
4 U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies, LEHD
6 http://www.ccala.org/clientuploads/20.02.28_CCA_FinalDesign%5B2%5D.pdf?_t=1583196386