usual suspects
they took things too casually
>>21601130People just want delivery now so paying more for the sit down fast casual shit when its the same quality as everywhere else is retarded
>>21601130This would have fucking KILLEd in the 90s
>>21601130They’re mediocre and too expensive
>>21601130This sort of thing exists to serve a society with a robust middle class. There’s no middle class anymore
>>21601154>>21601130Buffalo Wild Wings is pivoting.>>21601130My local coffee shop has been dabbling with sit down dining. First time having a steak with red chimichurri.
>>21601130Too expensive for their quality.
I used to live in Grand Rapids. Fun times. Still miss it.
>>21601175There's no difference in price between "budget" fast food and fast casual anymore. A burger and fries at mcdonalds is easily $15 if you don't grovel and suck dick like a credit card rewards program in their app.
>>21601276this and i think the problem is about the price. wages have gone up a lot. fast food only is in business now because they have like 2-3 employees in the store at any time, but before they would have 5+when your young waiter and bus boy make $18/hr your food needs to be $20-$30. but many of these places quality is more in the $10-$20 range so they have to close downminimum wage increases killed the restaurant
>>21601302It's not minimum wage, it's just plain inflation + greed.
Everyone is facing horrible times.. Except the megacorps that profited from the covid theft and are now sitting back and watching society implode.
>>21601310best timeline?
Overpriced for the quality? The poor cannot afford it and the rich have better options. If Im going to pay for eating out I want really good food that I cannot cook myself not slop that I could make better at home.
>>21601130They only function in countries with a middle classthere are none of those left
going to a sit down restaurant is too expensive now and it's time consuming
>>21601175>>21601622There is still a middle class. >>21601291McDonald's is not $15 for a burger and fries.>>21601302Minimum wage has not increased to $18 per hour. All of you live in an emotion-based reality.
>bunch of retards screeching about wagesya'll seem to forget the fast casual institutions like applebees and red robin are doing relatively OK(pic related is the group that owns applebees) I think the real issue is that consumers who still go out to eat could be choosing local restaurants over chains. part of it could be a generational shift too, as gen-X and millenials are likely to look upon fast casual megachains with disdain (no you uncultured autistic swine dont count, i don't give a shit about your opinions, most of you are statistical outliers) families, possibly fast casual's #1 demographic, are also probably not going out as much due to financial constraints in the new era
>>21601928forgot image
>>21601899Who do you think you’re fooling trying to “nuh-uh” basic facts ?
>>21601965I'm not him, but declaring theres no middle class anymore is moronic. The poverty class has increased and so has the upper class. A lot of middle class has gone away because of people's general stupidity. Big car, vacations on credit cards, massive house eating out regularly then they hop on tiktak to announce they have no money left.
>>21601995There will always be a “middle” class technically speaking, but the key difference is that the wages earned by that class today no longer cover housing and living expenses with money leftover to spend at places like “Smokey bones restaurant and grill”
>>21602008The median American household has a net worth of $192,000 and has $8,000 in transactional accounts. A majority of Americans own their own homes. Real wages have mildly increased over the last 50 years. >inb4 muh shadow inflation
>>21602014The price of housing relative to wages has been steadily increasing for decades, to the point buying a house in 2025 is twice as expensive as it would’ve been in 1985, even adjusting for inflation
>>21602022does that dataset take regions into account?
>>21602014>a majority of Americans own their own homes A misleading statistic because this includes adult children still living with their parents as all “owning their home”. The only thing that needs to be said is that the % of 35 year old Americans who own homes has dropped from 50 to 25% in less than 40 years
When the economy goes to shit, restaurants are one of the first things people cut from their expenses.
>>21601130Urban explorer here. At least the good news is all kinds of neat new abandoned shit to poke around in. One time they just left EVERYTHING at this Golden Corral. Laptops charging, you name it. Corporate just walked away from the place and it was now somebody else's problem. Such is the tradition.
>>21602008>the wages earned by that class today no longer cover housing and living expenses with money leftover to spend at places like “Smokey bones restaurant and grill”You missed quite a lot of my post. Wages don't cover their housing and living expenses because they're living a luxury lifestyle and as such cannot afford to eat at a fast casual place anymore. They've spent those dollars elsewhere such as housing, vehicles, coffee, clothing, tech, and anything else.
Me and my wife have tried pretty much every restaurant in the city at least once. A lot of them are mediocre to the point of being disappointing. The ones that make half decent food seem to do really well, the ones that are mediocre close down, and the ones that are absolutely terrible somehow stay open. We walk out if the place is jeeted. That's only really kept us away from fast food so I don't know how the fast food is for quality now, but from what I've heard that is worse than ever. I think the problem is the places give an unspoken promise to be better than it is, and you sit down and you get something only a little better than if you cooked it at home using only canned ingredients. Might as well get a can of soup or make instant ramen at that point
>>21601130>>21601161They were dying since the 90s.When I was a kid in the 00s, chains were dying. Then the GFC hit and made that worse. And it's just been downhill since. The just suck. Sizzlers is the most obvious one. Fun as a kid, but that's about it. It's shit generally.People really really dislike generic brand restaurants. You might as well just eat fast food (which is also dying btw). America is just following places like Europe and Australia with this shit.But at the same time, independent stores are thriving even post covid where I live. That and taverns that sell decent feeds.
>>21601302Nah it's still cheap for people on a beggars wage.The fact is, a meal made at home would be better quality than the slop they put out.If you're gonna eat shit, you might as well just eat maccas. I will never understand why people eat at these places when you have say... a chinese or italian restaurant or a tavern or something you can eat at a table with.
>>21601697Well sorta, but I still would prefer a proper restaurant over this shit any day.
>>21602112Maybe you can help me because I have been trying to tell these kids for years that Long John Silvers used to be not a Simpsons joke level of awful. They don't believe me.
>>21602128All of these chains sucked back then, you just didn't realise it.
>>21602159They were at least clean and not staffed by junkies.
>>21602168>he really believes thisSo this is an advertisement thread too?
>>21602081The luxury housing being 1400+ usd a month for an apartment built in 1960.
They're being replaced by that breed of upscaled fast food that's been growing for the last couple decades. Brands like Chipotle, Raising Canes and Shake Shack and their ilk really took from their target demographic of "people who are too classy for McDonalds and not classy enough for Peter Luger" they were faster, had pretty much the same amenities and for the most part at least felt lighter on the wallet. To be fair those chain fast casual restaurants killed diners and diners killed luncheonettes which had done a number on soda fountains that were only founded because of temperance movements doing a number on pubs.
>>21601995>declaring theres no middle class anymore is moronic. The poverty class has increased and so has the upper class. A lot of middle class has gone awaylisten to yourself you pathetic fucking maggot. You are likely completely head fucked from being treated like a lab rat, having your future stolen from you, and are too fucking weak to come to terms with reality.
>>21602606nta but you're a fucking retard. if you ever went outside you'd see swathes of populated suburbs inhabited by the middle class. step away from your computer screen for once in your life (try not to kill yourself when you look in the mirror lmao)
>>21602612>if you ever went outside you'd see swathes of populated suburbs inhabited by the middle class.riiight, because the middle class houses are still there so that means the middle class is still there... you deserve your future.
>>21602621? yes, you moron
>>21602625lol
>>21601291Where, in the Yukon? A big mac meal is $8.
>>21601130>Be restaurant owner>Make 20% profit a year with your one store>want more>Buy cheaper ingredients and charge more>Now make 30% profit>Decide if one store makes money than clearly 20 stores will make 20x more>Raise prices and get even cheaper ingredients to help pay for it>Product now sucks and is too expensive>No one goes there anymore>WHY ARE WE FAILING?!?!?
Being middle class isn't about having money, it's about being a groveling college educated wageslave stuck in jobs whose existence is based largely on speculation. Right now the middle class is comparatively struggling, between the Entertainment industry's various labor disputes, ChatGPT's main hustle being basically copywriting, copyediting and basic secretary shit, post-covid belt tightening policies in both the public and private sectors and an increasingly educated global economy offshoring programming jobs the jobs that have been hit hardest are the ones that are "middle class" while traditional working class fields were labeled "essential" and benefitted a lot from increasingly conservative investment portfolios that leaned on things like real estate development, food delivery and manufacturing.
w.e, don't care. you fuckheads can drown in your own shit.
>>21602650>run on sentenceRetard alert.
>>21601130The economy in general is in decline so places that weren't doing great to begin with are gonna fail.
>>21601130>smokey boneswe used to have one around here, it still sits empty after a decade. i cannot see this place without thinking about this time I overheard this black guy on his phone say "I'm bout ta blaze up dat smoky bones." i dont know what it meant exactly, but i know it was one of the most memorable moments of my life and many, many years later i still say that phrase and think about how stupid it is.
>>21601310nowadays, only billionaires swimming in gold can afford burgers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAWaZqDf-VE
>>21601130Private Equity and the death throes of capitalism.
>>21601130Because that place was shit. My office is nearby and we never went there.
>>21601288Great town.
>>21601137Its okay, inbred, we already know how you sow hate against anybody up and coming that was raised in the sun.
>>21601130How is Kenthood this time of year?
>>21601137For once it's not the usual culpreets
>>21601130>Refuse to hire white people>Covid normalized not eating out>People can't afford to eat out due to the above reasons
>>21601130Fast casual is places like chipotle, five guys, etc. That looks like an actual sit down restaurant chain.
>>21602621Just because the middle classes' houses are there doesn't mean the middle class is there? Do you think they're sleeping in tents under the freeway while leaving their house empty?
>>21601130dennys and applebees will be the only surviving chains in the end. applebees serves basically the same slop that chilis, tgi, and the other chains serve for way cheaper. dennys is the same thing except they also serve breakfast.
>>21602582and luxury cars being an 03 accord that only has liability insurance because you cant even afford the maintenance
