Closings

The Pink Tea Cup Has a Backup Plan

Photo: Shanna Ravindra

With some help from a scrappy band of loyal patrons, a manager at West Village restaurant the Pink Tea Cup has devised a strategy to keep the restaurant open: A fundraiser will be held on January 3, the date the 55-year-old soul-food restaurant was scheduled to close. The preservation-minded Team Tea Cup hopes to raise $100,000, an amount that will allow current manager Vincent Pinkney to purchase the business from owner Lisa Ford, who says the overwhelming cost of operating expenses forced her hand. “The whole idea of soul food is a lot of food for a little money, so you don’t want to charge all these crazy amounts,” she told us last week, citing hefty rent hikes and a decline in business, “but that’s what you need to do.”

Customers and Manager Try to Save the Pink Tea Cup [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
Earlier: Owner Lisa Ford Says Pink Tea Cup Is ‘Pretty Much Done

The Pink Tea Cup Has a Backup Plan