Quote:By AIER
Since the start of 2024, numerous well-known restaurant chains have announced sizable closures and incrementally more drastic restructuring efforts. TGI Fridays has closed numerous locations across the US and sold eight corporate-owned locations to strengthen their franchise model and close underperforming stores. Denny’s shut down 57 restaurants in 2023 and announced additional closures for 2024 due to inflationary pressures. Boston Market drastically reduced its number of restaurants from around 300 to just 27 by March 2024, driven by landlord evictions, unpaid bills, and state shutdowns due to unpaid sales taxes. Mod Pizza abruptly closed 27 locations across the US, including five in California, just before the new minimum wage law took effect. Also suddenly, Coco’s Bakery and Carrows chains closed 75 locations, leading to a federal lawsuit by former employees due to the lack of notice provided for the layoffs. PDQ, a regional restaurant chain, closed eight restaurants across North and South Carolina in February 2024 due to market conditions. Outback Steakhouse’s parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, announced the shuttering of 41 locations of Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill in February 2024 as part of a major financial restructuring. Subway has been undergoing a massive drawdown, closing over 400 underperforming locations since last year alone. And Applebee’s has been selectively closing locations since the start of 2024, focusing on optimizing its restaurant portfolio by shutting down low-revenue stores.
In 2024, Buffalo Wild Wing will eliminate sixty locations in the United States. IHOP (International House of Pancakes) will wind down 100 locations. Other firms eliminating locations include Pizza Hut, Red Lobster, Hooters, and Chili’s. A handful of others may close down entirely.

COVID lockdowns significantly weakened chain restaurants by drastically reducing their customer base and revenue streams. This disruption made it difficult for many restaurants to sustain operations, some of which took on more debt in the face of depleted financial reserves. At the start of 2024, FSR (Full Service Restaurant) Magazine summarized:

Quote:Another after-shock of COVID was the debt pile. Going back to August 2020, the James Beard Foundation released survey data that suggested only 66 percent of independent bars and restaurants expected to survive the fall season without direct aid. Frothing to the top of this fear was the fact that close to 75 percent reported taking on new debt obligations north of $50,000. Moreso, 12 percent tagged the number at $500,000 and above. Growing debt, and the deterioration in operating performance required to service it, forced heightened levels of investor and debt-holder concern and oversight[.] … This increased debt between 2019 and the last 12 months 2020 by 8.1 percent for limited-service units and 15.7 percent for full-serves. The former, by the fall, sat at more than four times as much debt, while full service was at nearly 50 percent more than 2008 levels … [In] the current environment … 68 percent of full-service restaurants reported carrying some amount of debt. On average, it was $51,863.20 — a number that could creep up as interest rates continue to rise.

FSR continues:

Quote:“If debt is a piece of the profit puzzle, food costs are another. In fact, they appear to be an even bigger, more widespread concern … than the year before. This year, 58 percent of operators in the survey said rising inventory costs was their No. 1 source of financial strain, up from 54 percent in 2022.”

The total and annual percentage changes in the index prices of six key ingredients of restaurant and diner menu items, from 2010 to 2020 and then from 2021 to the present, are shown below; in most cases, over the last three years prices have risen at multiples of their annual increases over the prior decade.

Since January 2021, core CPI has risen just over 17 percent, while food-away-from-home prices have risen over 22 percent.
Core CPI (blue) vs. CPI Food Away From Home (black), 2014 – 2024

Quote:By Michael Snyder
We continue to get numbers that indicate that the U.S. economy is steamrolling in the wrong direction as we approach the most chaotic election season in our history.  Needless to say, the performance of the economy is going to play a major role in the outcome of the election, because millions upon millions of Americans are really suffering right now.  Homelessness has been growing at the fastest pace ever recorded, hunger and poverty are exploding, and we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis that doesn’t seem to have any end in sight.  Unfortunately, there are signs that things will soon get even worse.  For example, we experienced a “historic surge” of corporate bankruptcies during the first half of this year that was worse than anything we have witnessed since the first half of 2010…

Quote:There is a “historic surge” of corporate bankruptcies underway in the U.S., as debt-saddled companies struggle to adjust to the new era of high interest rates.
New figures published by S&P Global Intelligence show that 75 companies filed for bankruptcy in June, the highest number recorded in a single month since early 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. That pushed this year’s total number of bankruptcies so far to 346, which is notably higher than comparable levels seen in the past 13 years.
Before this, the highest half-year figure recorded was in 2010, with 437 companies filing for bankruptcy from January through June.

During the first half of 2010, we were just coming out of the Great Recession.

Do you remember how painful things were in those days?
Sadly, I believe that what is ahead of us will be even more painful.
The unprecedented measures that our leaders took to prop up the economy worked for a while, but now cracks are starting to show all over the place.
And a lot more big businesses will go belly up during the months ahead.
Earlier today, I was quite saddened to learn that Big Lots is on the verge of bankruptcy…

Quote:Discount retail chain Big Lots said it will close up to 40 stores this year and may declare bankruptcy.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company wrote in a quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filing it expected further operating losses and has “substantial doubt” it can continue as a functioning business.
Big Lots last month reported a net loss of $205 million in the quarter ending May 4, 2024.

When I lived in Virginia many years ago, I would shop at Big Lots quite a bit.
And it always seemed to be doing fairly well.
But now times have changed.
Today, most Americans have very little discretionary income.  In fact, surveys have shown that the vast majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck at this point…

Quote:A 2023 survey conducted by Payroll.org highlighted that 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, a 6% increase from the previous year. In other words, more than three-quarters of Americans struggle to save or invest after paying for their monthly expenses.
Similarly, a 2023 Forbes Advisor survey revealed that nearly 70% of respondents either identified as living paycheck to paycheck (40%) or—even more concerning—reported that their income doesn’t even cover their standard expenses (29%).

There is no way to spin those numbers in a positive manner.
Any way that you look at them, they are absolutely horrible.
The middle class is being ripped to shreds, and those that are running the system seem to be all out of answers.

(07-11-2024, 10:51 AM)727Sky Wrote:

Quote:The middle class is being ripped to shreds, and those that are running the system seem to be all out of answers.

(07-12-2024, 09:05 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote: I gave up on restaurants a while back.

People have gone bat crap crazy. Many have serious behavioral issues, so I don't trust them with my food. Add on the over pricing, then the ridiculous tip, and it makes eating out a huge pass for me.

---

Check this out.




Just the tip of the iceberg. Just one of the reasons I don't eat out.

(07-12-2024, 10:23 PM)Bally002 Wrote: My wife and I Actually felt ill after that first Video.

My goodness.

Glad we cook at home where we live.

Bally (Bleck!))))

(07-13-2024, 02:13 AM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(07-12-2024, 10:23 PM)Bally002 Wrote: My wife and I Actually felt ill after that first Video.

My goodness.

Glad we cook at home where we live.

Bally (Bleck!))))

The majority of our food we get from a co-op. We trade duck eggs and chicken eggs for our meat and produce.

Everything is fresh and local. It is amazing how it taste so different and much better than store bought.

I have a friend that is baker, and her son is following in Mom's footsteps, we get our bread and other bakery items from her. We get a lot of fruit and produce from neighbors also.

I may not eat like the elite, but my belly stays full, and my food is all natural and healthy.

(07-12-2024, 10:23 PM)Bally002 Wrote:

(07-12-2024, 09:05 PM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote: ...

---

Check this out.

My wife and I Actually felt ill after that first Video.

My goodness.

Glad we cook at home where we live.

Bally (Bleck!))))

(07-13-2024, 07:39 AM)Bally002 Wrote:

(07-13-2024, 02:13 AM)NightskyeB4Dawn Wrote:

(07-12-2024, 10:23 PM)Bally002 Wrote: My wife and I Actually felt ill after that first Video.

My goodness.

Glad we cook at home where we live.

Bally (Bleck!))))

The majority of our food we get from a co-op. We trade duck eggs and chicken eggs for our meat and produce.

Everything is fresh and local. It is amazing how it taste so different and much better than store bought.

I have a friend that is baker, and her son is following in Mom's footsteps, we get our bread and other bakery items from her. We get a lot of fruit and produce from neighbors also.

I may not eat like the elite, but my belly stays full, and my food is all natural and healthy.

Same.  Our garden isn't producing enough so we attend the  local green grocer and butcher for fresh stuff.

Bally)

(07-14-2024, 10:06 PM)Snarl Wrote: ]

Fresh food will be missed. Next to the best neighbors in the world, it's the best thing we have around here.