I know exactly what Olive Garden is and I can buy a Stouffers lasagna and cook it at home and have a very comparable meal with less sodium then what I get at Olive Garden

That are places that I really like Panda Express MOD pizza and Chipotle being 3 of My favorites

Aust Ag said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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I had 1600 dollars in office catering Tuesday and 900 yesterday for pharm reps.

Some places are doing well.

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I sometimes wonder if Drs offices ever pay for their own lunches.

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We do a lot of catering for pharm reps.

4 have a standard order every month.

Tacos!

Sq 17 said:

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I know exactly what Olive Garden is and I can buy a Stouffers lasagna and cook it at home and have a very comparable meal with less sodium then what I get at Olive Garden

That are places that I really like Panda Express MOD pizza and Chipotle being 3 of My favorites

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ok good for you, I was saying no one goes to Olive Garder thinking its high end food, also by their success consumers agree with me, also your frozen lasagna is jam packed with sodium.

HTH

Tanya 93 said:

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Tacos!

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Cultural appropriation!!!!1


You probably cook while wearing hoop earrings and your hair in cornrows, too.

BigRobSA said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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Tacos!

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Cultural appropriation!!!!1


You probably cook while wearing hoop earrings and your hair in cornrows, too.

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I tell them what to cook

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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One trend I've noticed is that mom & pops can no longer afford to operate in downtown CBDs. Seems like its all national chains or regional conglomerates that can afford to set up shop. Most downtown areas are cookie cutter now with few exceptions.

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Happening in Manhattan and then COVID only accelerated it. McDonald's, Chase and Duane Reade on every corner....

Free market at work, right?

Tanya 93 said:

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BigRobSA said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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Tacos!

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Cultural appropriation!!!!1


You probably cook while wearing hoop earrings and your hair in cornrows, too.

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I tell them what to cook

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Oooooooof course you do.....

AgGrad99 said:

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Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Four-years out and it's safe to say that the restaurant industry never recovered from covid.

Compared to 2019, we a long way off from the way things were.

Food quality is still way down.

Prices are up 30-40%.

Service still operating at covid level and most places still seem understaffed.

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I think it did recover, at least in most areas...but current costs are murdering them. The average family of four don't want to spend $80 for some wings or to eat at Chili's. But that's what they have to charge because of recently inflated costs.

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Sounds about right. Heard somebody the other day mad because they spent $80 at a Noodles & company for a family of four.

All I know is the Texas Roadhouse restaurants are always insanely packed. Guess it caters to those who wish to die by a slow suicide via those butter rolls

It's insane to me that most food is not terribly difficult to cook or really that expensive.... And people still go out for the convenience.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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unds about right. Heard somebody the other day mad because they spent $80 at a Noodles & company for a family of four.

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$80 budget for four could get you surf and turf (with the smaller sub 6 oz tails) if they were willing to grill themselves.

Tanya 93 said:

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BigRobSA said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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Tacos!

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Cultural appropriation!!!!1


You probably cook while wearing hoop earrings and your hair in cornrows, too.

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I tell them what to cook

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You speak Spanish?

BigRobSA said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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Emotional Support Cobra said:

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I love that your place is thriving!! That means it is worth it!!

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In negotiations right now for catering tailgates

Damn

People like us

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Only the best sammiches!

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We have a tailgating contract

So freaking awesome

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Gave MOD pizza a shot the other day but left concluding that it was a Subway sandwich, but in the shape of a pizza.

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As expected, MOD pizza to file for bankruptcy and close 500 stores.

Rip to the Subway sandwiches of pizza.

Big restaurant chains dropping like flies.

Crumbl cookie with1036 locations across the US gotta be the next on the chopping block.

And they gotta start closing free standing Pizza Huts at some point. One stays open nearby with the lights on but you never see a single car in the lot.

Covid wrecked the restaurant industry's ass like nothing we've ever seen.

Almost all restaurants running with a disenchanted skeleton crew. You go in most places and **** is in disarray. Employees are laxidasical and disorganized like it's the employees their first day ever working at a restaurant.

I read an article today about the restaurant biz being down like 40% right now.

I think we are in a recession.

Logos Stick said:

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I read an article today about the restaurant biz being down like 40% right now.

I think we are in a recession.

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Cost of goods went through the roof so the menu prices increased quickly to the point of actually being noticed by the consumer. Whereas slight increases over time go relatively unnoticed.

Not but four years ago a 20oz soda was $1.79 at a gas station. Today, $2.39.

It's called inflation. We used to eat out multiple x per week. Now it's once, maybe twice a month.

General observation is that several years removed from Covid and the restaurant industry is wrecked and ain't coming back.

Food quality is way down. Most places are mailing it in using the absolute cheapest possible ingredients they can get away with.

Service is ridiculous. Restaurants and hotels are still way understaffed. Or they staffed with laxidasical people that act like it's their first day on the job.

Places still closing early, even in areas with high tourist traffic.

Resturant and hospitality industry you grew up with ended in 2019.

We've reached peak pricing for low quality food and peak tip insanity.

I am seeing more restaurants not have closing hours listed. They close when they think they aren't busy enough.

You will smoke the VICTORY cigarettes and drink the VICTORY gin and you will like it, comrades!

Lackadaisical

Muy said:

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"COVID" didn't do ***** Liberal governors, mayors and DA's did everything tjhat harmed the restaurant industry. We all called it out 4 years ago and were mocked by those of you who deserve what you had coming to you. I will never feel sorry for you libs who complain now, you deserve everything that has harmed you.

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I couldn't agree more, but Abbott was the governor of Texas and there were tons of business that closed and were never reopened at his directive to close things down.

Liberal states with liberal governors is obvious what they'd do, but Abbott, in Texas?

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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General observation is that several years removed from Covid and the restaurant industry is wrecked and ain't coming back.

Food quality is way down. Most places are mailing it in using the absolute cheapest possible ingredients they can get away with.

Service is ridiculous. Restaurants and hotels are still way understaffed. Or they staffed with laxidasical people that act like it's their first day on the job.

Places still closing early, even in areas with high tourist traffic.

Resturant and hospitality industry you grew up with ended in 2019.

We've reached peak pricing for low quality food and peak tip insanity.

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Perfect example of this: I was in a large city the Monday of the A&M CWS final game. I was staying at a nice hotel with a few nice restaurants. I went to one and saw they had a few TVs and only one person there, so I asked if I could sit at the table in front of the TV, eat dinner and watch the game. Sure thing, the first guy says. I go put my bag in my room and come back down. The TVs had all been changed to the damn Copa soccer game. I asked what happened and the other waiter shrugged and said "everyone else wants to watch soccer." I went downstairs and asked the concierge what bar or restaurant was close that I could watch baseball. The manager and the concierge told me "oh you can watch it in the restaurant." I explained that I couldn't and why, and they just said that was a bummer.

The hospitality industry is a shell of its former self.

I just want to get a plug for the Scioto Ribber in Portsmouth, OH. Their ribeyes are unmatched by any chain restaurant in a 100 mile radius.

https://www.thesciotoribber.com/

Kentucky Jeff said:

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I just want to get a plug for the Scioto Ribber in Portsmouth, OH. Their ribeyes are unmatched by any chain restaurant in a 100 mile radius.

https://www.thesciotoribber.com/

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Easily the best ribeye I've had from a restaurant in this area.

Traveling when you eating out a lot is when it's most noticeable.

Don't tend to notice staying around the house hitting up local places you go to from time to time.

But as soon as you travel somewhere it'll leave you thinking wtf is this still covid and are things really this bad.

Some places you wondering where they still open or even care about making money.

Maybe some places stay open as a money laundering front, who knows.

Best places seem to be owner operated taquerias and Asian joints where half the family is working at the place.

Any franshise or place where the owner isn't present seems like a disaster.

You had a huge number of people quit the restaurant and service industry and didn't come back. So you got a situation where the people most suited to be in that industry are off somewhere else making some other industry worse.

Bankruptcies continue for the restaurant industry but we still got a ways to go.

Aust Ag said:

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Tanya 93 said:

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I had 1600 dollars in office catering Tuesday and 900 yesterday for pharm reps.

Some places are doing well.

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I sometimes wonder if Drs offices ever pay for their own lunches.

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Tanya must be bringing breakfast tacos to missouri!

Sounds like a mega job for Robert Irvine and restaurant impossible.

The Restaurant industry is suffering the most in the biggest bluest cities where inflation has priced out the restaurants from the fewer people still physically working in their downtowns

Red Lobster is a study in what NOT to do if you want a successful restaurant ownership.

They had a long history and reputation of providing an inexpensive seafood dining experience. They were run more like a fast food place, but it was a dining experience none the less.

One day, one of their Thai shrimp suppliers thought they should buy them (from Darden, I believe) and promote more shrimp. Since they provided the shrimp they could influence the sale more.

They had never owned restaurants in Thailand... and knew little about the American restaurant business, but that didn't stop them.

They jumped in... offered an "all you can eat shrimp" deal. Customers came in droves. It was even more successful than they'd imagined it would be. Yea.

The reality was... customers came in and sat for hours and ate and ate. They couldn't flip tables. Employees had diners they had to service for longer periods of time, eaning less tips. Wait times grew because the tables were full. Customers were coming for the low margin shrimp instead of more expensive items.

That caused them to start cutting on things. They lowered the quality of some items.

They sold the building in in a lease-back program and rents started to grow with inflation without control. Which caused them to have even greater pressure.

At the end of the day, a Thai supplier of food to Red Lobster bought the US restaurant and did everything you don't do... to be a successful restaurant.

Disclosure- I helped put myself through college by working @ RL and worked at 3 different ones primarily... but at somewhere between 6-10 overall.