How can a small shop survive in Manhattan,NY with a rent of 5k per month ?

[coupable]

How can a small shop survive in Manhattan,NY with a rent of  min 5k per month ? i just can't figure it out ...

You have already received your answer, but I would add that many such shops actually serve as a screen for some other illegal business. It's about the USA after all, watch a mafia movie and it will be clearer to you

This what first came into my mind after reading op. 1000 custmer a day (just for rent cost) are not easy to be served in a small square with a competitor neighbor even by working 24/7. 5$ fixed price for any order can't handle all the charges of a "called" profitable business.
Both fast food shops should have various methods to get max extra earning, unless the projects are just a mirror to lunder other activities. It's obvious that they can survive during crisis like the actual one.

Note that some big companies open food/drink shops near to them to primarly serve their stuff and custmers. So not to care so much about rent as they are not opened to make profit.

[Mahanton]

How can a small shop survive in Manhattan,NY with a rent of  min 5k per month ? i just can't figure it out ...
Let's take this example, 2 fast foods next to each other

Both sell similar products at avg product price of 5 usd

Both pay rent 5000 usd month

5000 / 5 = 1000 customers monthly needed just to pay rent ,not including utilities ,salaries,stock ,advertising etc ...How do you think they survive and make a profit ?

HIGH DEMAND!

This is just a simple or basic law of supply and demand.You've been puzzled on why they did sustain? of course there are lots of people who do buy out into those stores.
even the rent is outrageous if there are lots of people goes to the store then it will surely compensate overall.Its just amazing on how they did but one of the reason is
the store location believing that spot do have lots of people residing there into that city which is evident if we do try to look at the image.

[FanatMonet]

$ 5,000 a month divided by $ 5 for a hamburger = 1,000 hamburgers, which we divide by another 30 days in a month, and we get 33.3 hamburgers to be sold to cover the rent. This is not so much, given the huge number of people who prefer to eat on the go because of employment.

[DaveF]

Just as a side note although some places, like the ones shown in the picture are somewhat difficult to move there are a lot of retail places that can close Friday afternoon in one location and be open Monday AM in another.

Had a friend had a clothing store that she did that with. Always went month to month rental. Went to landlords and basically told them what she was going to pay. Probably 25% of asking. All she asked for was 30 days + the remainder of the month notice if they needed her to move out because a "real" renter was moving in. Because, no matter how busy retail was between 1995 and 2018 there was always space in Manhattan to be had for cheap even in the very expensive areas. Landlords also know it's easier to rent an occupied space then an empty one. At the end of the day it's just getting her staff in all weekend to box up all the clothing and stuff. Put all the boxes and the shelves in a van drive someplace else and unpack and repeat the circle of filling the van / emptying the van all weekend till they were done. Probably did it more then ten times in 23 years.

Always made a decent amount of money. Moved out to southern California after the 2018 Christmas season because she could not take a cold winters anymore. Doing the same thing there on a smaller scale. No idea if it will work on the other coast.

But yeah just because they are ASKING $9500 a month for a space does not mean anyone is paying it.

Stay safe.

-Dave

[Saisher]

That's New York this is the place that never sleeps and there are a lot of people from all walks of life that lives there if the food is good and service is great it will create a buzz and if the place has a good location, there will always new customers coming in, I don't think the shop will go out of business, the landlord or owner of the place will give them consideration during this pandemic.

[bittraffic]

The stores alongside it also survive, they all must be in the strategic location to have gotten people passing by that eventually buy some of their products.  They wouldn't be able to make it if the stores nearby sells the same products. If besides the fast food stores lies beside a burger king, the two fast food would likely have same problem.

[ssamotoev]

The stores alongside it also survive, they all must be in the strategic location to have gotten people passing by that eventually buy some of their products.  They wouldn't be able to make it if the stores nearby sells the same products. If besides the fast food stores lies beside a burger king, the two fast food would likely have same problem.

You know actually there is an economy strategy which requires competing companies locate their shops equally in free spaces.
but thats not realistic at all, so there is an opposite one - you collapse all shops in one good place where a lot of people are and they decide where to go by themselves
this strategy works pretty much all around the world and most of the shops are profiting

[Harlot]

Bro the rent won't be that high if the shops weren't able to afford it. We always need to put into consideration about "location" and since Manhattan New York is one of the most densest cities in the world I doubt that they don't even earn any profit from it at all except right now where the pandemic is actually causing a lot of trouble I know these business owners aren't really having trouble paying their rent because they can. Next time you are there and when all things clear out maybe dedicate a month to see if they surpass 1,000 customers in a month to see if they are able to earn any profit, and that is assuming that these customers are just purchasing one 5$ meal.

[Genemind]

Simply because they're earning a good profit which is higher than their expenses. We can't base the earnings of business on the size of their establishment but it's how they run it. A good business strategy, hard work plus a trusted product with a higher demand could provide an assurance of gaining a better monthly profit which is enough to sustain their rent and other expenses.

[Kasabus]

Simply because they're earning a good profit which is higher than their expenses. We can't base the earnings of business on the size of their establishment but it's how they run it. A good business strategy, hard work plus a trusted product with a higher demand could provide an assurance of gaining a better monthly profit which is enough to sustain their rent and other expenses.

Yes. A business will only gain higher profits if it passes the taste of the consumers and not basically on the size of the business site. So it's really obvious that this small shop has made a lot of customers per day which will target the monthly rental or even exceeds the amount.

[aioc]

When did you take that picture? is it before or after the pandemic, if it's on a subway in Newyork, it should have a lot of people walking and gathering, New York is one of the places that don't sleep, that $5000 rent is nothing if they have good foods and a steady client, food business in New York can always survive, because of the huge number of people going in and out.

[BrianZAK]

Its pretty simple. They wouldn't survive if they didn't have the customers. Also, $5 is very much on the low side for a food purchase in N as is $5000 rent for that matter. Places that arent busy go under regularly. If you could see a time lapse of also any set of business units in any major city over the course of 20 or 30 years you would see just how common that is.

[Findingnemo]

If the shop is located where millions of people crossing there everyday the paying 5K would be worth it and no one is going to pay such huge amount for rent if they are not making enough profits.I guess that 5K would be the profits for those shops in just one or two days so all the remaining profits will be the owner's.