Mar 21, 2024
New York City is implementing a regulation requiring wood- and coal-fired pizza ovens to significantly reduce their emissions.
This rule, which takes effect on April 27, mandates that pizzerias with ovens installed before May 2016 cut their particulate emissions by as much as 75%.
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The financial implications of this mandate can be substantial, as detailed by Kevin Jackson, general manager of John's of Bleecker Street, an emblematic NYC pizzeria established more than a century ago.
“We had about $150,000 worth of expense,” Jackson revealed in a recent interview with Fox Business.
He elaborated on the complexity of the task, noting that compliance involves more than merely affixing a scrubber on top of the oven flue.
“Our flue wasn't the right width, so we had to change our whole two, six-story flues, we had to change from 14 inches to 18 inches. You have to put the scrubber up top, that involves punching through a brick wall, which, in a 100-year-old building, I can assure you needs engineers and all kinds of different construction people just to do the punch through the wall. So it's a big expense,” he explained.
‘Well-intentioned law’
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection is enforcing this regulation as part of a broader effort to combat climate change as well as to improve air quality. In public documentation, DEP framed these new rules as in response to health concerns, with a goal of reducing “particulate matter released into the environment, which is a known cause of asthma and other respiratory complications.”
Jackson acknowledged the goal of this new regulation, calling it a “well-intentioned law.” However, he has reservations about its effectiveness.
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“All restaurants that have coal ovens use a coal called anthracite coal. It is a high carbon type of coal, almost particulate free,” he explained. “So to include coal ovens in this legislation, it misses the mark … but it is what it is. The city, they're mandating it and we've done it.”
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Higher menu prices
Many restaurant owners have recently drawn a connection between regulatory pressures and higher menu prices. For the century-old pizzeria in New York City, this financial challenge is equally pressing.
When asked whether his restaurant would pass the substantial cost of complying with the regulation to the customer, Jackson’s answer was affirmative.
“Yes, we actually did this project three years ago, right at the height of COVID. We were mandated to do it. So we've already incorporated the price of that into our current prices,” he said.
Although John's of Bleecker Street has weathered the storm of regulatory changes, Jackson warns not all establishments may be as fortunate.
“Thankfully we absorbed it. We ended up on our feet. But I know there are other places that can't do that. And that's really why, you know, we want to fight the fight because it's not fair to the smaller places,” he remarked.
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Jing is an investment reporter for MoneyWise. He is an avid advocate of investing for passive income. Despite the ups and downs he’s been through with the markets, Jing believes that you can generate a steadily increasing income stream by investing in high quality companies.
