Christina Jelski
Our elevator lurched to a stop on the 31st floor of what will soon be the Kimpton Era Midtown, and winter sunlight flooded the unfinished space.
With a hardhat placed firmly on my head, I got an exclusive preview of what will serve as the hotel's Asian rooftop concept, Izakaya. While it was very much a work in progress, with construction workers weaving in and out, it was obvious from the sweeping city views and multiple indoor-outdoor terraces that the venue will be the property's crown jewel.
It's one of four food and beverage concepts that Tom Dillon's Apicii hospitality group is developing for the 529-room property, which is on track to debut in March. Dillon, founder and CEO of Apicii, joined me at the rooftop, describing what sounded like a rather eclectic culinary program. There'll be a Latin restaurant and taqueria, an upscale New York brasserie helmed by celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, an all-day coffee and cocktail lounge and, of course, the aforementioned rooftop restaurant.
It represents a major food and beverage investment in a Midtown market that looks very different than it did pre-pandemic, with the hybrid-work model fundamentally reshaping when and how often office workers dine out.
"Everybody's in [the office] three days, and definitely not on Friday," said Dillon. "So, you've lost Thursday or Friday. Before, Midtown restaurants always had good happy hours, good dinners, but everything has moved to a Tuesday or Wednesday."
In other words, the compressed corporate week has forced operators to generate five weekdays of revenue in three.
Yet there's still reason for optimism. Hotel F&B revenue per occupied room increased 3.8% in the first half of 2025, exceeding overall hotel revenue growth of 3%, according to CBRE's Trends in the Hotel Industry survey, which was released in November. Even more encouraging is the fact that F&B profit margins improved from 28.7% in early 2024 to 29.1% in the first half of 2025.
The key appears to be culinary programming that effectively captures both hotel guests and local traffic, which is what Apicii's diverse concepts -- clearly designed to target different times of day, dining occasions and tastes -- aim to do.
"If we take 400 rooms on average, we'll have 600 to 700 people staying here," said Dillon. "But [our F&B] has to do 1,500 people a day. Hotel guests, maybe we get them for breakfast, and hopefully they decide to come back and have a drink. But they're not going to be here all the time."
Dillon is confident, however, that Sixth Avenue's dense office population -- bolstered by growing return-to-office mandates -- and Rockefeller Center's tourist traffic will keep the hotel and its F&B outlets consistently full. (The opening of JPMorganChase's global HQ just blocks away on Park Avenue is expected to further boost demand.)
There's more to Apicii's secret sauce, of course.
The small-plates format at the Izakaya, for example, isn't just about Asian dining traditions. It's about changing trends, with Dillon citing the rise of weight-loss drugs.
"People are definitely looking for smaller portions," he said.
The strategy also includes encouraging guests to move between venues.
"If you came to the brasserie, then [we say], 'You've got to try the rooftop,'" Dillon said. "There's so much to do in New York that when you've got someone's attention, you make the most of it."
Openings of all four venues will be deliberately staggered. The brasserie and lounge will likely open first, followed by the Latin concept a few weeks later and the rooftop around early April.
It'll be perfectly timed for New Yorkers ready to emerge from hibernation.