Americans are eating out less as inflation weakens the dollars in their pockets, which is having harsh consequences for restaurants across the country.
Visits to sit-down restaurants were will drop almost five percent in 2023 from the previous year, according to location analysis firm Placer.ai.
Even large metropolitan areas in the United States, known for their excellent dining venues, are struggling to maintain an environment where it is profitable to run a restaurant.
Eater NY reported that More than 40 bars and restaurants closed in New York City from December 2023 to January 2024, and some of the owners said business simply never recovered after the COVID closures in 2020.
But in a city where one person would be needed over 22 years old to eat in all restaurantsthe problem is not that pronounced.
Jessica Dunker, pictured, said many restaurants that were forced to close were unable to pay back their 30-month deferred loans, some of which were taken out during the COVID closures.
A restaurant in McKinnon, Georgia, that was abandoned due to lack of customers.
In the middle United States, where there are fewer people and household incomes are lower, almost all restaurants are feeling the pressure of empty seats.
Iowa’s capital city, Des Moines, for example, has seen many restaurants close due to less foot traffic. The establishments, of course, know this, but so do the rest of the restaurants’ regular customers.
Abby Sheffer, a law student at Drake University, told local station KCCI that she and her friends have noticed “there are a lot less people.”
‘We went to the barbecue place down the street and we were the only ones there. And it went on like that for two and a half hours,” Sheffer added.
Des Moines native Monica Wilke-Brown said she thinks “people also got used to cooking at home and going out less.”
The latest victim of Des Moines’ series of restaurant closings was Gusto Pizza, which for nearly a decade was a persistently popular place to grab a slice.
Monica Wilke-Brown, left, says people have become accustomed to cooking more at home and eating out less after the pandemic. Abby Sheffer, right, said she, too, has noticed shorter lines at restaurants.
Gusto Pizza, a Des Moines staple for nearly ten years, recently closed amid a series of restaurants closing their doors in the Midwestern city.
Iowa Restaurant Association President and CEO Jessica Dunker says restaurants across the country are being hit by the double whammy of rising food costs and rising labor expenses.
The dark and gloomy interior of Gusto Pizza after its recent closure
Gusto Pizza photographed on a somewhat lively night before its final disappearance
Jessica Dunker, president and CEO of the Iowa Restaurant Association, said the reason restaurants are closing is because the cost of produce has increased 30 percent and they are having to shell out higher wages to keep staff. .
Dunker also noted that many food businesses are struggling to pay back loans they took out during the pandemic. The agreements, most of them 30-month deferred loans, were likely necessary when shutdowns were in full swing and restaurants had virtually no customers by force of law.
But with foot traffic across the board, according to Dunker, if restaurants can’t pay their loans, they are forced to close.
“There is a rise not just in the state of Iowa, but across the country, of these small independent restaurants that just can’t see how it can be five or 10 years in a way that makes business sense,” Dunker said.