Meet the Underground Power Brokers of NYC Dining: Restaurant Consultants

When luxury gym chain Equinox’s first-ever hotel — marketed as one of the top attractions at $25 billion development Hudson Yards and billed as “the place where compromise doesn’t exist” — opened earlier this year, the matter of who would run the corresponding restaurant was the (many, many) million-dollar question. Whichever restaurant group controlled the space would not only get access to the guests spending up to $8,000 per night to stay at the hotel; employees from companies like Amazon, HBO, Coach, and Facebook; and the projected 125,000 daily visitors to Hudson Yards by 2025 — it would potentially be a partner in future Equinox hotels, too.