Categories: News

Chain restaurants boom, independents go bust

Guess who’s thriving during the pandemic? Not your local independent restaurant, that’s for sure. But the chains are alright: Turns out, having drive-through windows, easy app-based ordering, and leverage with landlords are all keys to surviving these tough times, The Wall Street Journal reports. The graphics in this piece are particularly sobering: While chains are still employing about 20 percent fewer people than they did before the pandemic, independents appear to be faring much worse. Similarly, consumer spending at chain restaurants has nearly reached 2019 levels, while independent restaurants continue to lag far behind. 

Related Post
The Counter
Share
Published by
The Counter

Recent Posts

Grist acquires The Counter and launches food and agriculture vertical

Grist, an award-winning, nonprofit media organization dedicated to highlighting climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices,…

6 months ago

Is California giving its methane digesters too much credit?

Every year, California dairy farms emit hundreds of thousands of tons of the potent greenhouse…

2 years ago

Your car is killing coho salmon

Highway 7 runs north-south through western Washington, carving its way through a landscape sparsely dotted…

2 years ago

The pandemic has transformed America’s dining landscape into an oligopoly dominated by chains 

One of the greatest pleasures I had as a child growing up in the Chicago…

2 years ago

California is moving toward food assistance for all populations—including undocumented immigrants

Undocumented immigrants experience food insecurity at much higher rates than other populations, yet they are…

2 years ago

Babka, borscht … and pumpkin spice? Two writers talk about Jewish identity through contemporary cookbooks.

Writer Charlotte Druckman and editor Rebecca Flint Marx are both Jewish journalists living in New…

3 years ago