Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

ricksebak t1_j8t0jvz wrote

Reply to comment by sparksofthetempest in Max and Erma’s - Cranberry Township Location. Last day of operations is 02/25/2023 by DarkLuc1d1ty

I would call Max and Erma’s a typical middle class boomer restaurant. And yes, those are closing because there are less and less boomers every day. No restaurant wants to go after a demographic which is shrinking, and at best, will be gone in 15 years or whatever. They want to go after a 30 year old and hook that customer for the next 40 years.

15

69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_j8t21je wrote

The whole "let's go out for dinner three times a week" thing is an anomaly in American history, it only really started in the late 1970s and will likely die when the boomers do. And that's fine.

 
Greasy spoons, diners, take-out, roach coaches, etc have always been around for the time poor, but the sit-down casual dinner places like Applebee's, Outback, etc are a pretty recent thing.

 
https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details/?pubid=90227

5

sparksofthetempest t1_j8t6buw wrote

The movie “Diner” was set in 1959, and nothing like that exists now. The point of the film was that they could all meet up late and greet the dawn together. Perkins, Denny’s, even Eat and Park all had 24 hour places prior to Covid. They’re all gone.

10

Theoldquarryfoxhunt t1_j8tfzfk wrote

It's too hard to staff places for regular daylight and evening hours let alone overnights. A LOT of servers found new jobs/careers because of the pandemic. Myself included.
Sure, people came back, but losing a big chunk of the workforce you had before really took a toll. And the ones who came back didn't want to do overnights anymore. And I don't blame them. You couldn't drag me back for anything. I get PTO, sick pay and 10 holidays off a year now all paid. 25 years in restaurants and I'm not sad to see any of them go.

14

69FunnyNumberGuy420 t1_j8t740i wrote

Yeah, turns out that no one wants to work in a dangerous environment during a pandemic for shit pay and garbage tips. Can't say I blame them.

11

SWPenn t1_j8u9hno wrote

The average 30 year old goes through a drive-thru for a bag 'o' food product.

2