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On with Kara SwisherCan Restaurants Survive Rising Costs?
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Rising costs reshape restaurants: hospitality, tipping, tech, and survival strategies
- The conversation explores how restaurants are coping with rising costs, shifting diner expectations, and post-pandemic cultural changes that have strained the relationship between guests and operators.
- Susan Feniger describes dramatic closures and shrinking profitability in Los Angeles, driven by higher food and labor costs, lower sales, and worker fear amid immigration enforcement.
- Danny Meyer contrasts hospitality with “essentiality,” arguing restaurants should aim to make communities better even if they aren’t immortal, and he critiques tipping as a broken system that widens pay gaps between front and back of house.
- Elazar Sontag explains why reviews still matter in a world of influencers, emphasizing process and fairness, and he discusses how restaurants are adjusting service models to remain viable.
- The guests highlight responses ranging from diversification and community feeding programs to counter-service hybrids and supportive local restaurant ecosystems, while also discussing guest behavior and the role of tech and AI.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasEssentiality is the deeper goal; hospitality is the means.
He says the aim isn’t for a restaurant to last forever, but to matter—so much that people’s lives feel better because it existed, even if it eventually closes.
The diner–restaurant relationship feels newly mismatched after the pandemic.
He frames the shift as diners often still expecting “customer is always right” perks and deference, while operators are dealing with thinner margins and volatile costs, creating a sharper mismatch than before.
Restaurants are squeezed by higher costs, lower demand, and labor instability.
She describes closures in Los Angeles, dramatic increases in food and labor costs, and fewer people dining out; she also says immigration enforcement fears have made many workers afraid to come to work, worsening labor shortages.
Reviews still matter, but their role has shifted from discovery to accountability and meaning.
He argues influencers help people discover restaurants and dishes, but traditional critics still add value through repeated visits, paying their way, and reporting/interviewing—plus reviews can raise morale and keep teams sharp because they don’t know when the critic will arrive.
Diversification can be survival—but it becomes a different business.
She explains their COVID-era pivot into commissary/catering for large-scale meal programs both served community needs and helped bring employees back to work, but required learning a new model involving nonprofits and government funding.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesI think it's, it's not an exaggeration to say that everything changed, and then, you know, some things sort of went back to how they were. But there, there really was a seismic shift.
— Elazar Sontag
Well, I think we learned a long time ago that the customer's not always right, and that, uh, and that's because no one's always right.
— Danny Meyer
People now know that, whether consciously or subconsciously, they are either voting with their meals for convenience or experience.
— Danny Meyer
The fact that it existed in the first place made your life better.
— Danny Meyer
I once got into a fist fight in the very first year I opened Union Square Cafe with someone who was drunk and parading around the dining room with his tie tied around his head, complaining that we didn't serve baked potatoes.
— Danny Meyer
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SPEAKERS
Danny Meyer
guestNew York City restaurateur and founder of Union Square Hospitality Group, author of “Setting the Table.”
Kara Swisher
hostJournalist and host of the podcast “On with Kara Swisher.”
Elazar Sontag
guestWashington Post restaurant critic and former Bon Appétit editor.
Susan Feniger
guestChef and restaurateur, co-founder of Border Grill (with Mary Sue Milliken).
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
