Throughout 2025, there were a lot of articles about how restaurants in the middle tier casual dining sector were dying. The New York Times wrote “Where Will We Eat When the Middle-Class Restaurant Is Gone?” The Atlantic touches on it in “How America Lost Its Taste for the Middle.” Those are just two examples, there are many more.
While we haven’t heard as much about restaurants specifically in the past few months, the focus has shifted to the economy and consumer spending habits. The “K-shaped” divide of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer echoes and runs in direct parallel to the idea of middle class restaurants disappearing.
Legacy chains Red Lobster, TGI Fridays and Hooters all filed for bankruptcy in the past year and a half. Denny’s is closing hundreds of stores. On a smaller scale, Bar Louie closed 14 stores, roughly a quarter of its operations, and there are many more examples that are simply too numerous to list. Add to this some pretty dismal jobs reports, consumer spending reports, and rough Q3 restaurant earnings.
It’s all awful. It’s all misery. Casual dining is going the way of the dodo. People simply don’t want to dine like that anymore. It’s either fast casual or fine dining. Consumers are either skipping casual dining for dining at home and QSR/fast casual or they are saving their money for a special experience.
Bullsh*t.
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