We tend to marvel at the big-box spectacle of restaurants like Buddakan, where hundreds of diners can be sat at once and be served litchi-tinis and tuna-tartare spring rolls while small armies of busboys descend from the wings to clear tables. But what about those shoebox-size places, like the 180-square-foot Bisous Ciao Macarons in the West Village, where dozens of organizational tricks are used to maximize operations, or the 85-square-foot Simply Sliders in midtown? Because few tenants can make do with less than 250 square feet, it turns out that rents for some of these tiny restaurants can be bargain basement. And with ultra-low overhead (sometimes literally), Crain’s notes that some of these spots can pull in $3,000 in sales per square foot. Aww.
Tiny restaurants turn into small wonders [Crain’s]
