Businesses close to the Kennedy Center have warned they are dying because of Donald Trump’s meddling with the iconic D.C. arts venue.
The president, 80, is pushing for a two-year renovation of the theater, after plastering his name on it last December. In gaudy gold lettering, he renamed it The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Although Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, forced them to remove that in June, visitor numbers remain way down, and restaurants and cafes in the area say they are struggling to survive—with one eatery claiming its income is down an eye-popping 75 percent.
“It has been terrible since the name thing,” Mohamed Hyali, 66, who runs Tazza Cafe, meters away from the Kennedy Center, told the Washington Post.
The arts venue and theater typically brings in 2 million guests a year, many of whom eat and drink at nearby establishments before and after shows. But attendance has fallen through the floor since Trump took office for a second time, forcing the organization to ask its trustees to give out free tickets to some events.
In August 2025, Hyali says the restaurant brought in $415,000, but this August that has slumped to just $103,000, forcing him to cut employees’ hours, leading half to leave altogether.
Hyali says he has not taken a salary in two months, with utility bills, rent, and food costs climbing even higher. “I pray every day that he will change his mind,” he told the Post, adding that he “can’t raise my prices every week, you know.”
The restaurateur had planned a $10-12 pizza-and-drink deal for construction workers, then the court halt killed that too. “So now I have no show customers, and now no construction customers,” Hyali told the Post.
His experience appears not to be unique.
“The Kennedy Center is in many ways the anchor of the community,” Jim Malec told the outlet. The advisory neighborhood commissioner, whose district the Center sits in, said he has heard threats that the administration could close or even demolish the venue if Trump’s plans for it are thwarted.
“The amount of resources that would be lost with a closure or, God forbid, something crazier would just be catastrophic,” he adds.
Ashok Bajaj owns two neighborhood restaurants, Rasika West End and Bindaas, where his patrons are often noticeably dressed for the theater and request sitting times around shows.
While he can’t pinpoint exactly how much Trump’s influence has affected his bottom line given wider issues facing the hospitality industry, he believes it is a lot.
However, he hangs onto the hope that Trump’s renovation ambitions will eventually help his businesses.
“If the renovation goes on, and they’re going to make it bigger and better, I’m certainly hopeful that after two years it will have such a positive impact on D.C. economically, and you know, this is a great art center for the whole country.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Kennedy Center and the White House for comment.
