Nearly half of US restaurants have become less profitable with many suffering from rising overhead costs, in a further sign of an impending recession for the industry, Philip van Doorn writes in MarketWatch. The restaurant industry is facing its worst downturn since the Great Recession and has been hit particularly hard by higher labor costs as well as increased competition from fast food chains.
Nearly half of US restaurants have become less profitable with many suffering from rising overhead costs, in a further sign of an impending recession for the industry, Philip van Doorn writes in MarketWatch. Stifel Nicholaus analyst, Paul Westra, recently downgraded 11 restaurants, stating that falling sales are the "canary that lays the recessionary egg," since historically, restaurants have led the stock market lower ahead of previous financial crises.