Vox Popoli, https://www.voxday.net./
The End of an Era
Restaurants closing in 2024:
- Fuddruckers is expected to close ALL locations by the end of the year
- Old Country Buffet is closing ALL remainder locations
- IHOP is closing 100 locations
- Buffalo Wild Wings is closing ALL Canada locations as well as 60 locations in the US
- Applebee’s is closing 35 locations
- Red Lobster is closing 50 locations as they enter bankruptcy
- Denny’s is closing 20 locations by the end of the year
- Marie Callender’s is shutting down ALL remainder locations
- Pizza Hut is planning to close 500 locations
- Outback Steakhouse is closing 41 of their 700 locations
- Sai Baro is closing a total of 50 locations with majority being mall locations
- Mard Pizza is closing a total of 27 locations
- Ruby Tuesday is closing 16 more locations in 2024.
- BDQ is closing 8 of their 59 locations.
- Joe’s Crab Shack is closing 41 of their 60 locations
- Bonefish Grill is closing 7 locations
This is what cultural and economic decline looks like. Apparently 60 years of relentless immigration are not, in fact, good for the economy or the traditional culture. I wonder, however, how much of these failures are related to economic contraction, reduced consumer spending, and excessive debt versus the lack of appeal held by these traditional restaurant franchises for the newcomers.
My town used to be majority white, with Mexicans running a fairly distant second, and had a fairly diverse restaurant population. Now it has a majority Mexican population. You can’t drive half a block without passing a “Taquerilla” or a roadside stand selling tamales. Even my nephew by marriage, born in Mexico, complains that “all they serve around here is arroz y frijoles (rice and beans).” …And so it will be for the rest of the country… No one listened to us Conservatives in California when we warned of what would happen when someone like Obama or Biden did exactly what they’ve done…
And yes, I DO believe that the contracting “great economy” that we are, according to Biden, too stupid to notice, is playing a HUGE part in the closures of all these restaurants. I hardly eat out at all anymore. Too expensive. Funny though, it WASN’T too expensive before Traitor Joe TOOK office, and I’m actually making somewhat MORE than I did then… But no, I’m too stupid to notice the “great economy…”
…All I can say to America at this point is “I hope you like rice and beans…” Not only will that be all that’s served, it will be most likely all you’ll be able to afford…
Buffalo Wild Wings closing but only in Canada? Why is the Socialist Menace to the North getting a break from crappy bar food for people who’ve never had good wings/tenders? We ate there once & not going back.
Never ate there but BWW up the road closed last year, demolished and a brand new car wash now sits proudly in its place.
Don’t forget Covid. Don’t ever forget what they done to us during the so-called epidemic (so bad, you needed to be tested to see if you were sick).
What I saw locally is that the few restaurants that were quick and agile enough to switch to a delivery model (mostly thru doordash or uber-eats) survived. Those that couldn’t transition to a delivery type service didn’t. In fact, I’d probably assign 60% to 70% of restaurant closures to the Covid stuff, the rest to the economy. Noting that Covid did it’s part in wrecking the economy too.
I think vovid was just the accelerant on the smoldering fire. I hate that people put such an emphasis on covid being the death knell on everything. I think it wasn’t designed to wreck the economy. I think it was a medical entity to thin the herd. The foozled economy was a side benefit.
But having said that I think the cake was baked already, and the elites got what they wanted.
And that was a massive shift of money into their pockets. Biden and his ilk have profited from the middle income destruction.
Covid killed a number of marginal venues.
The money spent to sustain incomes for people not working because of Covid drove up the cost of eating out via inflation.
First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Hertz Global and JC Penney are marginal venues?
Yes. Ponzi schemes and poorly run businesses that depend on free debt are marginal venues.
Like the Fed, which has been Wile E. Coyote-ing off the side of the cliff for a century.
Look out below!
Use DuckDuck go and search ” 7 companies that went bankrupt due to covid” and “How covid 19 is affecting businesses around the world.” ALL of those listed are Ponzi Schemes dependent on free debt?
Did you support the disastrous PPP program and anticipate the scams an grift that would come from it? Nothing but a redistribution of wealth and payouts to UniParty cronies. Big Box stores allowed to remain open during covid. Small stores closed, many never re-opened.
I don’t think it matters much what I think.
I am making the largest garden of my life, putting my time and money on “this is the year the ponzi dollar system stops working…”
So you really don’t think or believe ” Ponzi schemes and poorly run businesses that depend on free debt are marginal venues.”
Good! Thanks.
You can see it in real time here.
https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/
And pick up other economic news as well, it’s bad.
We don’t go out to eat except on special occasions or with clients and are usually disappointed. It’s overpriced and mostly shit food. We prefer to get together with friends at home.
I honestly don’t know how restaurants are surviving these days.
Restaurants and waiting on tables has been the savior of many an unskilled person. Without that option untold numbers of otherwise useless people will end up on welfare. And the taxpaying people with actual useful skills will be taxed even harder.
The shit sandwich we are all expected to eat is about to get larger.
Just remember, life is like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you have to eat.
Keep your battle rattle close, it’s coming soon!
Don’t forget the minimum wage laws passed in places such as CO and CA.
I can’t afford to eat out anymore…..
used to be if we stopped for a burger and fries it might be 20 bucks total.
THOSE days are long gone now. even Mickey’sD was like maybe 20-24 bucks
with 2 quarter pounders with bacon and fires each.. last time I think it was 26-28 bucks for one each and fries, drink. coffee was 99 cents. a bargain . last time it was 1.89 and tasted burnt too. NEVER had that before.
staff has changed a LOT. less older folks and more kids.
at least before, they got your order right and didn’t get lost when the machine didn’t work just right. and the food seem to taste better too. not slapped together
like they do now. I find the best meals out are at the smaller diners than the chain stores.
last spot we checked out was great, a smaller diner, 4 eggs, 4 slices of bacon
hash browns and coffee for 7 bucks
and toast too. almost forgot that bit. and the eggs where free range local.
I think the bacon was too. thick sliced. smoked. very good bacon.
we will be stopping back there again soon.
I’m sorry, but most of the places on that list stink on ice, anyway. Applebees sux out load. Red Lobster has never served food worth my money. Fudgepackers was a novelty who’s end-date should have been 20 years ago. BWW?; Went there once and only once. Poor Outback used to have fairly good steaks, but anymore they sell junk meat.
A big problem for national chains is bottom line. They can’t raise their prices to accommodate cost increases, so quality suffers. Then people like me quit coming in.
Anyone remember Chesapeake Bay Seafood or Beefsteak Charley’s? They both reached that point where prices to cover cost scared away clientele, too.
For my money, small, family owned, local restaurants are the only option. I can’t remember the last time I dined at a big-box eatery. I walked away from the chain restaurants years ago and never look back. Or I cook at home.
5 Guys is the new Fudgepackers. Their prices make McDonalds look economical. And you’re spot on about small family owned local restaurants. They’re the best and usually are damn glad to see you, as compared to and contrasted with most of the chains.
Restaurants get a significant portion of their revenue from business clientele as well. Sometime pre-craptimes, the tax code took away meals and entertainment as write offs. This virtually dried up the business meetings at lunch and dinner. The scamdemic super overreaction just accelerated the decline of restaurants and eateries that have always run on thin margins. Add to that the aforementioned minimum wage unicorn farts and fairy dust, and you can blame gubmint for about 80-90% of these closures. And the bottom is not even in sight yet.
It looks as if Cracker Barrel is on its way to following those companies listed. They’ve already removed some staples but what can you expect when they have a skinny blonde CEO who last worked at Taco Bell?
A lot of these establishments were venues that inspired tiktok & worldstar chimp-out videos. Now what?
I counted eight places on the list that I’ve been to, but most of that was, as the saying goes: “many moons ago.” Nowadays, we hardly ever do a sit down restaurant meal, and fast food joints even less.
We used to rationalize a meal out as not at all paying for food. We’re paying someone else to shop it, prep it, cook it, serve it, and clean up after. So even expensive wouldn’t bother me if the food was decent. That is no longer the case.
Another factor after the Covid Plandemic is that nobody wants to work. Every place in most towns has “Help Wanted” signs in the entries, most of them touting their “$15 starting wages”. It’s not just restaurants either, even Goodwill has those signs.
We are fortunate in that we both cook, so we can alternate the chores. I have one of my mother’s snapshots showing me at the stove, standing on a chair with an apron and ladle. It’s dated Nov. 1954. I’ve been doing it a long time.
Most of these places (that I’ve been to, at any rate) weren’t great pre-covid. I’d say the food and service at a place like BWW or Applebee’s was marginal at best before shutdowns and inflation effectively scuttled their business model. Now they are SOL with the conditions they have been trying to operate under. Add an economy in steep decline, and the attendant reduction in consumer spending ability forcing people to forego eating meals out, and they are well and truly screwed.
That doesn’t even touch on big corporate restaurants that are saddled with massive debt loads owing to their mismanagement and ownership (be it current or past) by vulture capital firms that picked them clean of liquid assets, and left them in the hole, financially speaking. We are going to see a lot outfits – and not exclusively restaurants, either – go down in the coming year or two as their untenable debt load eats them alive. Some of these have been “dead company walking” for years, but were able to keep things going due to low interest on their debt (which is now gone due to rollovers of same at higher rates) and growth in sales (also now gone). Most of these places also over-expanded during the good times, because they could do so at nearly zero financing cost. Now that the free money era is over, the extent of their stupidity in taking on new markets and many additional locations is being revealed. CVS is one such case of note, but there are many to consider. This ride is just getting started, so buckle up.
Kill the Middle Class-and all Democrat policies do exactly that- and you kill off where the middle class eats, shops, drinks and plays. Then you can then keep them glued to their VidScreens and control them much much more easily.