The fine-dining Morristown restaurant Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen, owned by James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Cannon, has closed. On Thursday, the eatery shared the news on its Instagram page.
Cannon attributed the closure to a change in eating patterns following the COVID-19 outbreak and a botched restaurant sale. The restaurant’s final night of operation was New Year’s Eve.
According to Cannon’s Instagram post, “since the COVID pandemic, major shifts in consumer behavior, labor, and cost increases across the board have made operating and producing the high quality product we have been known for increasingly difficult.” This past year, we had looked for a buyer for the restaurant, and an agreement had been reached that would go into effect in December. Because the buyer changed their mind at the last minute, we are forced to say goodbye.
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Located inside the century-old Vail Mansion, a vast estate that towers over Morristown, Jockey Hollow opened its doors in 2014 and provides an exceptional dining experience. Jockey Hollow’s cuisine was befitting of its upscale setting, whereas other restaurants barely survive on ambience alone. The restaurant managed to make great dining accessible to even the most inexperienced foodies. Cannon’s restaurant was ranked No. 5 on NJ.com’s list of the top restaurants in Morristown because it nailed everything from street tacos and smash burgers to prime filet mignon and squid ink pappardelle.
Due to a decline in business during the epidemic, the restaurant briefly shuttered in November 2020 and reopened in 2021. However, Cannon began to notice changes in New Jerseyans’ eating habits even as restaurants began to reopen for business in earnest that year.
People were going out to eat less often and later than they used to.
For two years, everyone lived in a bubble; they simply don’t go out to dine as late as they once did. “After eight o’clock, nobody goes out,” Cannon told NJ Advance Media. In the summer, Morristown is considerably more of a ghost town than it usually is. That’s a good 20% of your business when you lose all of it after eight o’clock.
Paying employees more to return to work following COVID added to Jockey Hollow’s difficulties, according to Cannon. More competition for the restaurant was also brought about by the growth of prepared foods at supermarkets and delivery services like GrubHub and Uber Eats.
The chef went on to say that it might be one of those middle-of-the-pack, upscale but not particularly sophisticated restaurants that will have a hard time surviving in 2025.
According to Cannon, ultra-luxury restaurants in New York City are still doing well because they charge $350 a person, while fast-casual is chomping at our ass. I believe that a significant portion of the middle tier will be lost by the restaurant business.
An agreement between Cannon and Jockey Hollow for another ownership group to take over Jockey Hollow was thwarted at the last minute.
According to Cannon, those who were purchasing had launched a restaurant in August, but it was failing miserably. So they left.
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