The Paradox of Restaurants

Let's face it, Americans love to eat food. Good food. Quality food. Even better when a meal at a restaurant has good quality food and drinks. The joys of eating at a restaurant come two fold: an opportunity for socializing and not having to dirty up your own dishes to enjoy a meal. The restaurant industry has for the most part been a booming industry, especially in urban cities like Portland, San Francisco and New Orleans. But according to an online article on The Atlantic, there is an unlikely paradox of restaurants in that the industry is also struggling.

The author Derek Thompson breaks down some of the reasons why the restaurant industry is both prospering and struggling. The main and perhaps more obvious reasons are convenience and price. More people are opting for takeout options of restaurants instead of going to sit-down restaurants.

With all of the quality restaurants, eating out can still be very costly. According to the money reports on CNBC online,

Americans spend over $3,000 on average eating out at restaurants. Reports also show that people are spending between $15-$25 for lunch. Restaurants have seen decrease in traffic coming to restaurants, but fast food chains have had increase in this same kind of traffic that seems to be missing from full service restaurants. In 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported that lunchtime activity is significantly lower than previous years. 

For the long term, it seems that eating out will be a popular staple to urban life and will become more of a luxury to those trying to save their pennies.