One of the biggest narratives from 2024: Restaurant bankruptcies

The year 2024 has been unkind to many restaurant brands, as especially evidenced by the staggering number of bankruptcies filed this year. Indeed, restaurants are on track to declare the most bankruptcies in decades with the exception of 2020, when the pandemic upended the industry. No segment has been spared, with Chapter 11 filings from legacy chains like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays to once-quickly-growing startups like Hawkers Asian Street Food and Melt Bar & Grilled, to franchisees of major brands like Pizza Hut and Applebee’s...