The Restaurant Industry Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?

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<p>If you dine out regularly, you might have noticed some changes in restaurants over the past few years. Perhaps you’ve found yourself ordering at a counter, scanning a QR code to see the menu, or eating … a lot more soft serve.</p><p>These changes aren’t just trends. Brett Anderson, a New York Times food reporter, says they are restaurant owners’ desperate attempts to stay afloat in an industry in crisis. According to a report from the National Restaurant Association, 42 percent of restaurant owners said they weren’t profitable in 2025. Many of them were at serious risk of closing.</p><p>In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Brett talks with our host Michael Barbaro about the economic realities that are forcing businesses to rethink the entire concept of a restaurant, including a radical experiment at one Minneapolis diner that stopped charging for food entirely.</p><p><strong>On Today’s Episode:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/brett-anderson" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Brett Anderson</strong></a>, a reporter for the Food section of The New York Times.</li></ul><p><strong>Background Reading:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/08/dining/post-modern-times-minneapolis-free-food.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">This Restaurant Stopped Charging for Food. And Profits Are Up.</a></li><li><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/dining/best-restaurants-america.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Restaurant List 2026</a></p><p>Photo credit: Caroline Yang for The New York Times.&nbsp;</p></li></ul> <p><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily"><strong>nytimes.com/thedaily</strong></a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p><p> </p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>