OT: Restaurant Apocalypse
sinclair
Strip Club Nation
I eat out a lot at casual sit-down restaurants when I have to travel for work. I like to get out of the hotel room, interact with other people, and people watch, similar to my strip club visits. It seems a lot of restaurants never seem to get more than one-third full during lunch or dinner hours anymore. I remember years ago when one could go to casual dining restaurants, and there would be a wait of sometimes an hour or two just to get a table. Those days are history. I also notice the people dining out are mostly older (Baby Boomers sixty years or older) or the occasional business people who are probably charging their meals to a business account. Younger people and families just don’t seem to be able to afford meals at sit-down restaurants any more.
Here are just a few examples of restaurants struggling that I have seen in the news:
-Applebee’s: closing 25-35 locations in 2024 after closing 46 locations in 2023
-Bagger Dave’s: closed its last 6 locations in 2024; the chain once had 26 locations
-Boston Market: 27 locations or less left in existence
-Buffalo Wild Wings: closing all Canada locations and 60 US locations
-Chili’s: closing some locations, number unspecified
-Cracker Barrel: says foot traffic is down 7% over the last five quarters and has closed several stores
-Denny’s: closed 57 locations in 2023 and closed 20 so far in 2024
-Joe’s Crab Shack: closing 41 of 60 locations
-Pizza Hut: closing around 500 locations
-Marie Callender's: down to its last 21 locations
-MOD Pizza: closed 26 stores in the first quarter of 2024
-Noodles & Company: quarter four same store sales declined by 4.2%
-PDQ: closing 8 of its 59 locations this year
-Red Lobster: just filed for bankruptcy and is closing 99 stores
-Ruby Tuesday: closing 16 more locations in 2024
-TGI Fridays: closing 36 locations in 2024
-Bloomin’ Brands: closed 41 restaurants including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s, and Bonefish Grill
It is not just the chain restaurants. In the city where I live, the #1 ranked restaurant, an independent “mom and pop” restaurant, closed down due to the increased costs of food from suppliers and people eating out less. This restaurant received a bunch of awards recently for best food and best dining.
Working as a server seems to be a more unattractive job than ever. One waitress at a chain steakhouse I ate at last night told me today that she only made $50 in tips during yesterday’s shift. Have any TUSCL diners noticed anything similar?
Here are just a few examples of restaurants struggling that I have seen in the news:
-Applebee’s: closing 25-35 locations in 2024 after closing 46 locations in 2023
-Bagger Dave’s: closed its last 6 locations in 2024; the chain once had 26 locations
-Boston Market: 27 locations or less left in existence
-Buffalo Wild Wings: closing all Canada locations and 60 US locations
-Chili’s: closing some locations, number unspecified
-Cracker Barrel: says foot traffic is down 7% over the last five quarters and has closed several stores
-Denny’s: closed 57 locations in 2023 and closed 20 so far in 2024
-Joe’s Crab Shack: closing 41 of 60 locations
-Pizza Hut: closing around 500 locations
-Marie Callender's: down to its last 21 locations
-MOD Pizza: closed 26 stores in the first quarter of 2024
-Noodles & Company: quarter four same store sales declined by 4.2%
-PDQ: closing 8 of its 59 locations this year
-Red Lobster: just filed for bankruptcy and is closing 99 stores
-Ruby Tuesday: closing 16 more locations in 2024
-TGI Fridays: closing 36 locations in 2024
-Bloomin’ Brands: closed 41 restaurants including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s, and Bonefish Grill
It is not just the chain restaurants. In the city where I live, the #1 ranked restaurant, an independent “mom and pop” restaurant, closed down due to the increased costs of food from suppliers and people eating out less. This restaurant received a bunch of awards recently for best food and best dining.
Working as a server seems to be a more unattractive job than ever. One waitress at a chain steakhouse I ate at last night told me today that she only made $50 in tips during yesterday’s shift. Have any TUSCL diners noticed anything similar?
38 comments
Where are you located.
I personally go less often, as I feel like quality has dropped considerably at a lot of the more casual places, especially chains.
Depending on what route I take to work I may pass one two McDonald’s. 10-15 years ago, there used to be long lines at any early morning McD’s drive-thru. Some mornings, there’s not a single car.
I’ve seen reports they menu prices have doubled in 10 years
I’ve always said “most restaurants are busy on the weekends, but are they on a Tuesday night?” I think that’s what it takes to survive these days.
I dine out a lot less because of less traveling. I recently read an article how the lunch hour is officially dead for restaurants because of several factors, but the main ones being remote/at home work and most customers don’t want to pay $30 for a sit down lunch that used to be $15 so they brown bag it and save their money for the weekends. Most restaurants in the article that were surveyed said the same thing. Dead during the week but uptick on the weekends.
This trend of remote work has totally decimated almost all the restaurants that were open for lunch in the DC proper area… but restaurants are growing in the suburbs as those remote workers now have a need to escape their homes sometimes in the afternoon.
As for me, I’m dining out a lot less locally because most of the restaurants food quality has dropped so much in the last few years. I recently went to an Italian place near me that’s always been “decent” never “exceptional” but it’s close and I’m trying to support a local business. I swear I have had Marie Callendar microwave pasta dinners that tasted better than what they served me.
I think in 2022 people were all pent up from being stuck at home and had stimulus money to burn so they went out full force to restaurants and bars. Some businesses even expanded their footprint thinking this was the new “new” after COVID lockdowns. Now two years later with inflation still high, less discretionary income to play with, people are staying home unless they know they’re going to get a really good experience dining out.
So Barb and Ted are going to skip a trip to Applebees, Olive Gardeb and another to Chilis and splurge and go to Capital Grille instead.
I know several families who get take out or go out for dinner 4-5 nights a week. No wonder why obesity is a massive issue and overall health of Americans is bleak.
Even someplace like Applebee's can easily be $50-75 for a family of 5 and that doesn't fit into the budget of many young families. They tend to reserve paying that much for a meal for only special occasions rather than just a random night out each week. When they are willing to splurge on a night out for the family, this generation seems to prefer to go to a locally owned restaurant instead of a national chain even if it costs them $75-100 instead of $50-75. Since it is a more rare treat they would prefer the better quality, better service and better atmosphere at a local restaurant instead of a chain.
I know that I go to locally owned places a lot more than the chain places anymore. The price gap between a place like Olive Garden vs a local restaurant has narrowed since the family owned places aren't raising their prices as quickly. The quality has also stayed higher at family owned places compared to the dropping quality at many chains. The sailme is true of fast food. It is about the same price for me to stop by a local deli for a Ruben and chips as it would be to get a value meal from Wendy's.
There are only two types of places where the casual chains tend to be doing well. Areas where the economy is stronger and the younger families are making better money seem to be the most successful. The other is rural places along the highways where there isn't enough of a local population to support local restaurants but there is enough business from travelers that want to go to a place where they know what to expect rather than taking a chance with a local restaurant that may be terrible.
Now since I'm eating out less, I much prefer to go to mom and pop type places than chains when I do. Since I live in the Boston area, there is no shortage of good to great local restaurants.
I can say that from Sinclair's list in my area all the remaining Boston Markets closed, two of the Buffalo Wild Wings recently closed, there is only one Outback left, and all the Pizza Huts south of Boston closed a while ago already.
Even Red Lobsters are closing.
I too when I go out, I'll do a locally owned place, as crosscheck said, mom and pops. Boston has a lot of great places from the days I traveled there.
Hell, I went to McDonalds last December or so when they had the McRibs. Three McRibs and small fries was $18.00. I went to Shake Shack, just once, and was out ~$18 for a burger, fries and a coke. Fuck THAT! If I want something fast, I look for Arby’s, Chik Filet (if the line is short) or a Culvers. I don’t do lines like at In-N-Out.
The ones doing well, not low cost, but not Del Frisco’s scary pricing, are brew pubs and gastros.
When home I’ve taken to going to a grocery store and getting a 16 oz tenderloin ($26) or salmon (not Atlantic/farm raised), Heirloom tomatoes ($4/pound), mozzarella and croutons for dinner. I can get 3 good meals which would cost more than just one dinner at a good restaurant. I’m eating at home a LOT more, and I think I’m eating better. I learned to cook from my grandmother. I use to travel 100K miles a year for several years from like 2001 to 2007, now not so much.
How a low-income, hard working family of 4 can go out now for a treat once in a while is beyond me.
I can remember in the late 80’s early 90’s one could not find a seat at a Red Lobster on Sunday after church. And now it’s bankrupt
FYP. Most of the restaurants mentioned serve the same or similar food. More than being overpriced, it’s boring. I live in a growth area and there are restaurants closing all the time, but we have more new restaurants than we have closings. And they are better. They may be regional chains but they skew to more specialty or ethnic food. Mexican is huge. Same for upscale Chinese, Korean, Mediterranean. If you want cheap, there are a ton of Vietnamese pho places. There are also a lot of smash burger upscale burger places. Inflation is a big factor in the decision to not eat out, but like someone else said, who wants to pay more money for boring food you can just easily cook at home?
@Muddy your point about the White House. Yeah, although I vote Left (generally) I'm extremely disappointed in how the Biden administration continues to insist that the economy is doing well. OK OK, so excess corporate profits are indeed at record levels. Now can you please notice the fact that rent and food are literally unaffordable on a standard salary? And that people with two masters degrees are having to share apartments and moonlight? And that the American Dream of owning a home is gone for an entire generation? And that for all these crimes, your excess corporate profits ARE THE CULPRIT?
The GEN Z wants avocado toast for breakfast, bad chipotle Mexican food for lunch and a poki bowl for dinner.
the days of endless shrimp is gone, and George the ocean is calling, 'they want their shrimp back'
BTW, I am amazed at In&Out's prices - heck of a deal there and the burger is the same size as always.
Now that inflation has hit these restaurants especially hard over the last few years, especially with labor costs, they can no long keep a lid on prices. So they are stuck in the middle, serving crappy food at higher prices that their core demographic can no longer afford.
In a lot of the places on that list, pre-pandemic I could go into them with a family of 5 and get out for approx. $60-70 (including tip). Now, even with a family reduced by one to 4, I'm lucky to escape many of those places for under a Benjamin. To some people $100+ dollars is a lot to spend on a single meal, especially when their other costs are rising as well.
It's also not helping that a lot more people started changing habits and cooking more at home during the pandemic. Heck over the last few years, more people have been watching cooking shows than ever before and celebrity chefs are becoming rock stars, lol.
Another issue is that construction and trades have less documentation requirements and still have huge demand.
As noted my everyone else, Sinclair's restaurant list is largely a bunch of places that have fallen out of favor.
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/nation…
If I want better food, I'll go just about any other bar or restaurant.
If I want better women, I'll just club.
Give me Federal Hill and Desire any day over ten meals at Hooters.
https://restaurant.org/research-and-medi…