The Restaurant Recession has Arrived

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DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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Here is a new article I was reading

The restaurant recession has arrived


...I concur with the article. I have noticed that many of the restaurants that I frequent have been slowing down. Less customers at tables lately. The only restaurants that seem to be the same as they always been I noticed are Chipotle and Qdoba. The article states that Chipotle has reported swift declines lately, but the location near me seems to always be the same in foot traffic when I go in there...Maybe a small decline if any. I guess other locations are doing worse.

I went into IHOP last night with my family...(My son loves their cinnabon French toast so we go there once a month). There were only 6 other tables with customers at them in the restaurant at dinner time on a Thursday night. Granted it's a Breakfast place, but every other time we have gone in the past, I can easily count at least 15 other tables in there.

Went to On The Border for Lunch a couple of days ago. Great Chicken Fajitas there. They are now running a $7.99 Lunch special on Wednesdays to get people in there. I ordered the $7.99 chicken fajitas...A LOT of food...great value. Anyway, I only counted 32 other customers in there, and it's a big restaurant, and it was 12:45 in the afternoon during lunch hour. ...The waitress told me because of the special Wednesday is usually their busiest day of the week on par with Friday lunch. She said the day before was nearly dead in there.

The article states:

"So what’s keeping consumers away from restaurants?

One factor is pressure on discretionary income from the rising costs of staples such as rent, medicine and education. Then there’s the steady rise in the cost of eating out, which has come just as grocery bills are getting cheaper."



Does anyone here book any DJ gigs at restaurants/bars any more? As in currently (In the last 30 days?)
 
I refuse to eat at chain restaurants, The locally owned BBQ that a friend owns rarely has less than an hour wait to get a table and the local bowling alley/supper club is always busy, I can see why a chain restaurant would struggle, most have mediocre food and service at best compared to a locally owned business
 
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tunes4046 said:
I refuse to eat at chain restaurants, The locally owned BBQ that a friend owns rarely has less than an hour wait to get a table and the local bowling alley/supper club is always busy, I can see why a chain restaurant would struggle, most have mediocre food and service at best compared to a locally owned business
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You must not have a lot of selection up there. ...In my area there are literally hundreds of restaurants within a 15 minute drive. Most of the local places are slower than the chain restaurants. There is a restaurant called Papas Smoke House down the street. Locally owned. I went in there for lunch last week...There were 2 other customers in there while I was there. They recently raised their prices. Pit Beef Sandwich and pulled pork sandwich are "OK"...a lot of meat. Use to cost $7.00 for the pulled pork sandwich. Now it costs $8.99 and comes with these large "side winder fries". The fries are likely cheaper fries than the old ones they use to have as well. Reminded me of the wedge fries at Royal Farms but curvy.

There is a restaurant in town that had been in business since 1955. We use to be regular customers. Their menu prices went up, and food quality, and service went down hill in recent years. The business had been in the family for 61 years. They just sold the business to an Indian guy 2 months ago. The guy is going to turn the place into a Package/good liquor store, and just keep the bar attached. No more restaurant side. ...Sad that it happened, but when prices go up and quality goes down, you lose your customers.
 
tough call chain or not..chains have and follow health codes more so than some family owned establishments. Quality is more middle of the road, or bland as some say, but it's consistent - size, taste, etc. Local fam places don't drug test either...good or bad depending on your perspective.

It's that time of the year to a degree - holidays coming, dark early people are staying home and saving for christmas. First quarter is always slow as well as people are waiting for hte xmas bills, are spent both physically and financially.

And with the election, fear of rising health care, etc things are 'on hold'.

So i'm thinking it's more short term..but who knows?
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
You must not have a lot of selection up there. ...In my area there are literally hundreds of restaurants within a 15 minute drive. Most of the local places are slower than the chain restaurants. There is a restaurant called Papas Smoke House down the street. Locally owned. I went in there for lunch last week...There were 2 other customers in there while I was there. They recently raised their prices. Pit Beef Sandwich and pulled pork sandwich are "OK"...a lot of meat. Use to cost $7.00 for the pulled pork sandwich. Now it costs $8.99 and comes with these large "side winder fries". The fries are likely cheaper fries than the old ones they use to have as well. Reminded me of the wedge fries at Royal Farms but curvy.

There is a restaurant in town that had been in business since 1955. We use to be regular customers. Their menu prices went up, and food quality, and service went down hill in recent years. The business had been in the family for 61 years. They just sold the business to an Indian guy 2 months ago. The guy is going to turn the place into a Package/good liquor store, and just keep the bar attached. No more restaurant side. ...Sad that it happened, but when prices go up and quality goes down, you lose your customers.
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The town I live in has a Hardees, and two family restaurants one of which closes at 1 pm everyday the other is open until 8pm, My kids talked me into going to a Texas Road House about 6 months ago, very gimmicky decor, very bland food, pretty average service, and not a good value, I will glady pay top dollar for very good food and regularly tip 25 to 30% for exceptional service
 
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The only chain restaurants within a 10 min drive are Dunkin Donuts and Subway .. neither would I consider for anything other than "quick". Everything else in/around town is locally owned. Even with the small city nearby (Waterbury), we still go to the better locally owned restaurants (of which Italian is the predominant specialty). I might occasionally stop by a Buffalo Wild Wings for takeout .. or Chilis or Panera Bread for a better than fast food quick meal.
 
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I just got back from eating at Pizza Johns (NOT Papa Johns). It's the best pizza in the area. Downed most of a 12 inch Pepperoni Pizza. Will hold me over until Dinner time. Tonight is a home made meal consisting of Ham steak and Broccoli, and salad. The only green veggie my wife eats is Brocolli...I'm so tired of it LOL. We might have string beans if she says she isn't that hungry since she always goes out for lunch on Fridays at work. I just ate great pizza so I'm satisfied for the day :)
 
DJ Ricky B said:
I just got back from eating at Pizza Johns (NOT Papa Johns). It's the best pizza in the area. Downed most of a 12 inch Pepperoni Pizza. Will hold me over until Dinner time. Tonight is a home made meal consisting of Ham steak and Broccoli, and salad. The only green veggie my wife eats is Brocolli...I'm so tired of it LOL. We might have string beans if she says she isn't that hungry since she always goes out for lunch on Fridays at work. I just ate great pizza so I'm satisfied for the day :)
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You ate "tolerable" pizza .. if you want great it's CT, NY or Chicago ... :)
 
The wife and I go out for dinner at least once a week.
We rarely go to a chain,
we usually end up at our favorite pub/grill...
our new favorite pizza/Italian joint...
or one of our favorite diners.
The city of Bethlehem has a TON of great places to eat,
and there seems to be a new one opening all the time.

Keep in mind that we are a very "tourist-dependent" city...
(casino, festivals, Chirstmas tours, and the Bethlehem Steel industrial complex)
 
FWIW, I realized a last week that I only ordered from the local pizza places a few times this past summer. We usually get pizza rather than cook quite a bit in the summer. The money is just going elsewhere. If it's a choice between spending $25 to buy two or three meals to cook or blowing it at the pizza place more often than not I'll go shopping.

In my area we don't have much choice. In the summer there's an open air brick oven pizza place on the corner. Their pizza is good though the pie is small. You probably need 2 pies if you're feeding 4 people. The same guy owns the ice cream stand on the opposite corner. They have Chicago dogs and other quick order stuff. I wouldn't exactly call that a meal and it's comparatively expensive but it's okay for a change of pace. The other pizzeria and Italian restaurant is a 10 minute drive away. The food isn't bad but if it were convenient to get Italian elsewhere I probably would. If you want cold sandwiches the local supermarket makes decent ones. They also run daily specials of hot meals. Most of the times the food is pretty good. The couple convenience stores within 10 minutes make good cold sandwiches.

That's about it. I'm likely to pick up something on the way home from one of the bigger towns (about a 30 minute drive each way) but I've been plagued with car problems lately and don't drive around as much as I used to. Outside of fast food garbage all the chain restaurants are a 45 minute drive away. I don't do chain restaurants as it is and certainly wouldn't drive 45 minutes to one as a destination.
 
I think the only chain restaurant I've driven any distance (>30 min) to is Dave and Busters.
 
I have a Chilis, Texas Roadhouse, IHOP, Dennys, and a Friendlys all within 1.5 miles of my house. If I go to 2.5 miles I can include a Applebees (which is at the local mall). That about does it for sit in chain restaurants in my zip code. If I go to 4 miles out, I can include a part of the city, and add Red Robin, On The Border, Mission BBQ (Pretty good fast casual BBQ but it's hard to get out of there without spending at least $13).

As far as Fast Food, I have Mcdonalds, Burger King, Wendys, KFC, PopEyes, Chic Fla, Checkers, Arbys, Taco Bell...All within a 1.5 mile drive.

Literally, the only fast food restaurants we don't have are Hardees and Roy Rogers (Oh I really wish we had a Roy Rogers nearby)

As far as local joints...we have a Diner, a Crabs place called Costas, a Italian Restaurant that has been in business since the early 60s, A pizza place called Pat's, a BBQ place called Papas Smoke House, and a popular expensive seafood place called Jimmy's Seafood

Really, within 1.5 miles I have most everything. ...I wish we had a Roy Rogers, a Panera, and a Chipotle in my zip code...then my local restaurant line up would be complete.....I have Long Horn Steak House 2 exits up the beltway about 8 miles away...which is where the Chipotle is...and Carrabas is about a 13 mile drive or so...13 miles is about the furthest I need to drive to go out to eat. ...Only because we love the bread at Carabbas. :)

Plenty of places to eat around here.
 
The closest place to eat anything, is 2.6 miles from my house.
 
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