Read This: There are too many good restaurants
We’re living in what some might call a “restaurant renaissance,” one in which organic, locally sourced ingredients abound at an ever-increasing range of fast, creative dining concepts. Celebrity chefs are all over TV, and neat restaurants are opening in cities both big and small. There’s truly no shortage of options, whether you’re looking for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And yet, something’s wrong.
“The Paradox Of American Restaurants,” a new piece from The Atlantic, affirms that while, yes, there is a restaurant renaissance happening in the United States, it coexists alongside a restaurant recession. Here’s how writer Derek Thompson characterizes the industry’s view of the modern restaurant scene:
Last year was “the worst restaurant year since the recession,” according to QSR Magazine. Dinner “traffic,” the industry term for the number of walk-in customers, has been falling for five straight years, says market-research firm NPD Group Inc. The lunch business is in a veritable depression. Last year saw the lowest level of lunchtime traffic in four decades, according to The Wall Street Journal, which declared “lunchtime is over for the restaurant industry.” The National Restaurant Association’s top trend for 2017? “A challenging business environment.”
After speaking to a number of restauranteurs, Thompson has a number of theories that help explain this paradox. His most striking takeaway, however, is also the most obvious one: There are simply too many restaurants. This goes double for the “fast casual” sector popularized by the likes of Chipotle and Sweetgreen.