NYC PRE-OPENING INTELLIGENCE · WEEKLY

WHAT ARRIVES

Every Monday morning: the week's sheet by email, plus an Excel built for CRM import. Every new on-premises filing in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, with the most substantial venues worked up in full.

WHERE IT COMES FROM

The city and state filings, read weekly: Buildings Dept. alterations and costs, Liquor Authority applications and licenses, Health Dept. permits and inspections, and the community-board record. Every claim carries its filing and date.

HOW IT STARTS

First month free, no card. $99/month per borough at the founding rate after that, $149 once the founding group closes. Cancel anytime. Below is a real sample from the pipeline, checked August 6.

THE POUR SHEET

SAMPLE EDITION · AUGUST 2026
NYC pre-opening intelligence · weekly
Who's opening, how close they really are, and what they're spending, straight from the filings.
EVERY CLAIM CARRIES ITS DATE. Filing dates from the record and a checked date on every row, including the rows where no record exists yet.
BUILDOUT $ FROM BUILDINGS FILINGS. What they're investing, venue by venue.
STAGE ACROSS ALL THREE TRACKS. Buildings, liquor, and health filings each move on their own schedule. Missing filings shown.
20 Blocks
215 E 4th St, East Village
Jack August & Willy Corman (Empty Lunchbox LLC), EV-raised founders, community-garden pop-up before this. contact in full edition
STAGE 4 OF 5: INSPECTIONS
SPACE: bought the built-out Izakaya premises ✓LIQUOR: pending + temp permit requestedHEALTH: inspected 7/30, items to fix
CALL IF YOU SELL: food distribution · kitchen & hood service · POS · beer/wine · AV & retail fixtures
Read: furthest along on this sheet. Pre-opening inspection 7/30, items still to fix. Conditions on the record: sandwich shop with full kitchen open all hours, noon open, no outdoor. 20 seats, occupancy 74, ~6 staff planned. Buildout notes from the filings: projector screen, vinyl, a retail pantry sideline.
Watch: reinspection is the gate, and the temporary permit means pouring can legally precede the final licence.
Health Dept.: on file, initial inspection 7/30 · liquor application via purchase of the prior licensee's assets · on the record with Manhattan CB3 since March '25, conditions agreed · checked 8/6
acquired built-out space
(asset sale, no buildings
filing to carry a figure)
WINDOW: 2–6 wks
stage-typical, gated
on reinspection
Ugly Baby
364 Grand St, Williamsburg (ex–Emmy Squared)
Sirichai Sreparplarn, chef of the closed Smith St original, first location with a full bar. contact in full edition
STAGE 3 OF 5: LICENSED, HEALTH PENDING
LIQUOR: restaurant licence ISSUED 8/3, bar permit 8/5 ✓HEALTH: applied, no inspection yet
CALL IF YOU SELL: spirits & wine · smallwares · linen · POS · reservations
Read: licence in hand as of the 8/6 check; the health track says weeks out, not days. First location with a full bar means the beverage program is being built from zero.
Watch: inspection scheduling is the swing variable; a February target already slipped once.
Liquor Authority: restaurant licence issued 8/3, additional bar permit 8/5 · Health Dept.: application on file, no inspection on record · checked 8/6
no buildings alteration
filing on record
(checked 8/6)
WINDOW: 4–10 wks
stage-typical
Booth's Extra Fine
62 S 2nd St (Wythe corner), Williamsburg
Nick Pfannerstill, operator of Nobody Told Me (UWS + Dumbo); owner on the Buildings Dept. paperwork. contact in full edition
STAGE 2 OF 5: LICENSING
BUILD: 2 filings since 3/25 ✓LIQUOR: applied 7/22HEALTH: no filing yet
CALL IF YOU SELL: spirits & wine · ice & glassware · POS · kitchen equipment · insurance
Read: their own IG says fall, and the filings fit: liquor applied 7/22, no health filing yet. That is the stage where equipment and fit-out get bought. A third venue for this operator: expansion accounts, not greenfield.
Watch: a health filing appearing is the signal the timeline is compressing.
Buildings Dept.: $170,000 (3/18/25) + $26,000 (5/29/25) · Liquor Authority: application logged complete 7/22 · on the record with Brooklyn CB1, June 15 · Health Dept.: no record at this address · checked 8/6
$196,000
$170K (3/25) + $26K (5/25)
WINDOW: 3–6 mo
stage-typical; venue
says fall
Pony's
424 Van Brunt St, Red Hook
Elana Shvalbe & Michael Furac, the Five Seats barbershop cocktail pop-up ('20–'21), first brick-and-mortar. contact in full edition
STAGE 3 OF 5: LICENSED, HEALTH PENDING
LIQUOR: ISSUED 7/29 ✓HEALTH: applied, no inspection yet
CALL IF YOU SELL: spirits & wine · smallwares · POS · glassware
Read: same paper stage as Ugly Baby: licensed, not yet inspected. No date announced; IG bio still says coming soon. First venue for these operators: everything gets bought, nothing inherited.
Watch: the inspection is the remaining gate; a date announcement on their IG would be the other tell.
Liquor Authority: licence issued 7/29 · Health Dept.: permit on record, no inspection yet · venue announcement (Instagram), read 8/6 · checked 8/6
no buildings alteration
filing on record
(checked 8/6)
WINDOW: 4–10 wks
stage-typical
Soft Hours
119 Hester St, Chinatown/LES · open tea room going licensed
Evan L Huang (Soft Hours NY 001 LLC), first licence. evan@softhours.world, from the licence filing
OPERATING: ADDING A LICENCE
OPEN since 5/22 (dry) ✓LIQUOR: wine/beer/cider applied, CB3 hearing 8/10
CALL IF YOU SELL: wine · sake · cider · beer · bakery supply · glassware · not spirits (the class excludes them)
Read: a daytime tea room asking to run to midnight (2am Fri–Sat) with a stand-up bar. On the record: no happy hour, no DJs, background music only. 9 seats, occupancy 74, 4–6 staff. On the buildout, per the filed plans: new glass-door refrigeration, freezer, icemaker, dishwasher.
Watch: hearing 8/10. This board has trimmed other applicants' hours and outdoor asks this cycle, so the 2am is the negotiable part.
Liquor Authority: filing logged complete 7/30 · advance notice on the public record 7/7 · operating commitments signed with Manhattan CB3, 7/31 · Buildings Dept.: $65,000 + $24,000 · hearing 8/10 · checked 8/6
$89,000
$65K + $24K, 2 JOBS
WINDOW: gated on
the 8/10 hearing
Cocktail Test Kitchen
359 W 54th St, Hell's Kitchen
Principals on file. contact in full edition
STAGE 2 OF 5: LICENSING
BUILD: 2 filings ✓LIQUOR: applied 7/25HEALTH: no filing yet
CALL IF YOU SELL: spirits · barware · buildout trades · POS
Read: a small cocktail bar doubling as a recipe lab. Early: licence just filed, no health track yet. The long-lead window: design, buildout trades, POS.
Watch: both remaining tracks are open; the next filing on either one re-ranks this row.
Buildings Dept.: $9,000 + $27,456 · Liquor Authority: application 7/25 · Health Dept.: no record at this address · checked 8/6
$36,456
$9K + $27K, 2 JOBS
WINDOW: 3–6+ mo
stage-typical
What this is: six enriched rows from the NYC pipeline, checked 8/6. The full edition carries every new on-premises application in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, recently 50–100 a month, as stage-tracked rows with stable venue IDs, with the most substantial venues worked up like the rows above, segmented by borough and vertical. Windows are stage-typical ranges, not venue forecasts; where the venue has announced timing, it is printed beside them. Sources: NYC Dept. of Buildings, NY State Liquor Authority, NYC Health Dept., and the community-board record.
ABOUT
The Pour Sheet is the trade side of The Soft Open, the weekly NYC newsletter on restaurant and bar openings. Same records, same weekly read, organized for the people who sell to new venues instead of the people who eat at them.
FAIR QUESTIONS
How is this different from the national lead lists?
It's New York only, and it shows its work. A national list gives you a name and an address. Each row here carries the filings behind it, with dates, the buildout spending where it's filed, and how far along the venue is across three separate agencies. Most subscribers would keep their national list and read this alongside it.
What's in the full edition that the sample doesn't show?
The sample is six worked-up venues. The full edition adds the complete list for your borough as spreadsheet rows: every new on-premises filing, recently 50 to 100 a month across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, each with its dates, stage, and buildout dollars where filed.
Will my competitors read the same sheet?
Maybe. Seats are not exclusive: more than one company in a category can subscribe, and everyone gets the same sheet at the same price. What you do with it is the edge. If a lockout on your category is what would make you buy, say so when you write in. It is not on the menu today, and real requests are what would put it there.
How do I know the timing calls are any good?
Every row says how close a venue is to opening. Through your free month we keep a log of those calls for your borough, and at the end of it you can hold the log up against what actually happened. If the sheet was wrong, finding out cost you nothing.
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The Pour Sheet is the trade side of The Soft Open, the NYC openings newsletter.
Sources: NYC Dept. of Buildings, NY State Liquor Authority, NYC Health Dept., and the community-board record.