The Death of Restaurants

27 comments

• twentyfive

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  3 years ago

  Running a restaurant has always been a difficult thing and I believe there is a statistic out there showing that the restaurant business has a higher failure rate than business in general, my understanding of the restaurant business is that well over 60% of all food businesses fail within 2 years of opening
• datinman

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  3 years ago

  I am a fairly decent cook. I am amazed at the number of adults I know that are clueless in the kitchen and have no interest in ever learning how to cook. They exist through take-out for every meal. I am sure Delta variant has hurt the industry, but I doubt long term there is going to be a sea change in behaviors.
• Dolfan

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  3 years ago

  Restaurants suck right now. There's probably a number of factors causing it, but the bottom line for me right now is most of my restaurant experiences lately have been barely acceptable. Service is poor, wait times are long, menu's are limited and food has been mediocre. There's exceptions, but most places I used to enjoy going to I simply don't any more. Not because I'm afraid to go out or don't have money. Just this weekend I tried to go out, it was terrible. The hostess barely spoke to us. We waited 30 minutes even though the place was 75% empty. The waiter was high as a kite and fucked up the order. He clearly hadn't been trained to do things like sell appetizers and deserts, or check on us to see if we needed more drinks. He could have easily doubled our bill, and probably his tip by doing that. Had he been friendly and or competent, it probably would have doubled again. If the waitress or hostess had been a cute "college girl" type like was common pre-pandemic, they really could have cashed in on us. I could spend all day telling stories about places that used to be good but I have no interest in returning to. As far as the article goes, I'm sure they're interpreting the stats in a way that exaggerates the facts. 2 in 5 McDonalds weren't in the red, neither were Burger King or any other of the large fast food joints. There's probably 1 of them that was, so its probably more like "2 in 5 restaurants had at least one location that could not make rent in August" but that statistic is probably true every month for the last decade.
• Muddy

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  3 years ago

  Meanwhile the public employee has great job security, full benefits, competitive salary, only has to do 20 for their pension and is a complete and total moron. And lazy as fuck too.
• shailynn

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  3 years ago

  Lots of good points above that are factors. Like Dolfan mentioned, he had a terrible experience. At my first restaurant it was similar for me, after that we were so pissed we went to a second restaurant just to get dessert and a drink. Cooking, I was always an average at best cook for a guy, who really improved my cooking skills during COVID, and now at lot of weeknights I skip the convenience of dining out or picking something up to instead cook something better at home. It’s all about just making the time, I’m getting better at that.
• iknowbetter

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  3 years ago

  Who still reads USA Today?
• whodey

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  3 years ago

  I'd say its a combination of a few factors. 1 - service and quality has gone way downhill at many restaurants lately because they don't have the same number of quality workers available. 2 - many people started cooking for themselves during the lockdowns and learned it was better and cheaper. 3 - more dine at home options are available with quality food. This allows people to get the food they want delivered without paying the high markups on things like alcohol that were large profit drivers for restaurants. 4 - fast food restaurants have lost business due to people working from home. Many people would swing through a drive thru on their way home from work out of convenience/laziness and now it is more convenient to cook a simple meal at home instead of going to McD's. 5 - the shift to work at home is especially hard on restaurants located in the business districts of major cities that used to thrive off of people getting lunch near the office or getting together with coworkers for a drink or quick bite to eat after work. With so many office towers only having less than 50% of their workers still coming to the office it is killing them. 6 - people simply fell out of the habit of going out to eat during covid. Many people had several favorite places that they went to each week more out of habit than anything else. Once that habit was interrupted it simply went by the wayside and people didn't go back to it.
• BBBC

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  3 years ago

  Cum to my party shailyn [view link] We will have plenty to eat 😉 .we will be serving up plenty of sausage 😛
• Lone_Wolf

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  3 years ago

  Favorite Chinese place had a new paper menu with noticably higher prices. There were a lot of customers there though. As others said, I've gotten used to eating at home so I've cut way back on eating out. When I do go out service has been spotty but seems to be improving as time goes on. The restaurants in my area seem to be pretty busy but I suspect that will subside as the newness wears off and people shy away from the increased prices. I probably eat out 60% less than before the shutdown.
• skibum609

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  3 years ago

  Our last 10 dining experiences in Mass. and Florida have been no different in quality and service than 2018. Covid isn't a big deal here and we are mask less, except in state and federal buildings and hospitals.
• Icee Loco (asshole)

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  3 years ago

  The problem is rising prices along with lower quality food. Fuck them
• Huntsman

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  3 years ago

  My sense is the restaurant biz was probably due for a correction even before covid. Then add in that it’s always had a pretty high failure rate. Then add in the various things people have mentioned in this thread. It’s not a big surprise if the industry is having a tough time.
• shadowcat

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  3 years ago

  Are strip clubs that serve relatively cheap food stealing restaurant customers?
• san_jose_guy

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  3 years ago

  COVID and the response to it have had a devestating effect on retail. Don't know what will come of it. Hey, their used to be something people said was a Latina version of Tilted Kilt? Know the name? SJG
• SanchoRG

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  3 years ago

  Covid just making people realize there is no upside to catering to Karens except keeping a mediocre, easily replaceable job. Plenty of downsides tho. Retaining customers is the owners problem
• san_jose_guy

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  3 years ago

  "no upside to catering to Karens" I love it! SJG
• nicespice

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  3 years ago

  I’m pretty mediocre at cooking but even pre-covid I had the opinion most of what I made beat out the food quality of maybe 80% of places. I am all for allowing the better places to survive, and less places around—even if the prices are higher whenever I choose to go somewhere.
• Icee Loco (asshole)

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  3 years ago

  Yeah most of what I cook tastes better than restaurant food. Even ethnic foods I make. Like my fried rice. Curry kabobs etc. The lower quality and higher prices just puts me off too much. And the way
• Icee Loco (asshole)

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  3 years ago

  They mistreat workers
• SanchoRG

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  3 years ago

  Imagine making an excuse for not knowing how to cook when google exists
• orionsmith

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  3 years ago

  I have been trying to visit the local Twin Peaks restaurant when the bar wasn’t crowded. It’s crowded no matter when I visit it seems, Every bar seat was taken when I left tonight. I actually thought maybe the bar would be slower on a Wednesday rather than Saturday. Meanwhile closer restaurants like Wendy’s I haven’t visited since they shut down indoor dining possibly due to lack of staff. I just stopped visiting after they shut that down, Got fed up with it,
• san_jose_guy

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  3 years ago

  Latina version of Tilted Quilt? SJG
• shailynn

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  3 years ago

  ^^^ do you prefer a goat wearing a kilt?
• Icee Loco (asshole)

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  3 years ago

  I guess any Latin club or bar
• san_jose_guy

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  3 years ago

  NO there is one similar to Tilted Kilt. SJG
• TheEckster

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  3 years ago

  Since Covid started, it's been the death of everything.
• san_jose_guy

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  3 years ago

  And we have to fight to get back what has been taken! SJG