The Seafare, a popular seafood restaurant in Whittier, Calif. that opened in 1961 and seemed to be a fixture in the community, closed two years ago. The family that owned it cited rising costs due to Obamacare as a factor.
Ernie’s Jr., a popular family-owned Mexican restaurant in Eagle Rock, Calif. also shut its doors recently. The heirs of the original owner apparently didn’t want to deal with the hassles of running a restaurant in today’s toxic business environment.
It won’t be long before eateries belonging to chains will be the only places you can go out to eat.
The same thing is happening here in In my mid-size Southern college town. Many of the mid-level, full-service, privately owned restaurants are closing and we are left with either fast-food and fast-casual chains or high-end, white-table-cloth restaurants.