MRM EXCLUSIVE: ‘Portfolio Power’ — Why Maximizing Real Estate Should be on the Menu for Restaurants

U.S. retail chains continue to face daunting challenges—everything from ferocious competition from ecommerce, to rapidly changing shopping habits, to the slow death of middle-market malls. While department stores and mall retailers tend to be synonymous with such struggles, the truth is that restaurant chains are affected by the changes, too.Starting in 2018, a rash of bankruptcies in the restaurant business signaled the beginnings of a shakeout, with filings by RMH Franchise, Bertucci’s, Logan’s Roadhouse, Real Mex Restaurants, Noon Mediterranean, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Scotty’s Brewhouse, Ruby’s Diner, Uncle Maddio’s, Red Restaurant Group, Gatti’s Pizza and Even Stevens, to name a few. Against this backdrop, some prognosticators are issuing dire warnings: The new book by James Beard Award-winning food journalist Kevin Alexander, "Burn the Ice: The American Culinary Revolution and Its End," asserts that the U.S. restaurant industry is on the cusp of a historic…