Why restaurant profitability has yet to recover from the pandemic

Why are some restaurants having such a tough time this year?This week’s episode of the Restaurant Business podcast A Deeper Dive features Chad Moutray, the chief economist for the National Restaurant Association. We wanted to talk with Chad for two big reasons: First, the association published its data abstract on the restaurant industry, which shows some surprisingly low profitability for both full-service and limited-service restaurants. We talk about why restaurants are less profitable today compared with before the pandemic.But we also talk about the economy and why it’s so unfriendly to fast-food restaurants in particular. Many fast-food chains are seeing weak traffic, which has some speculating that lower-income consumers are cutting back. Moutray helps clear that up.We’re talking about the restaurant economy on A Deeper Dive so please check it out.