An American traditional, the diner has slowly been disappearing.
Sadly, I believe it’s a development,” Cornell University Hospitality Professor Christopher Gaulke told Fox News.
He sees diners facing a number of problems.
“With fewer prospects within the eating room, plus all these different prices rising, fewer folks desirous to work — it simply doesn’t make financial sense,” he added.
Diners closing has been part of a larger trend impacting restaurants.
“Greater than 10% of eating places in the US have closed completely because the coronavirus pandemic started final March, foodservice analysis agency Datassential mentioned,” Nation’s Restaurant News reported.
Diners have suffered with Denny’s closing over 150 locations, and a number of classic establishments in New York and across the country closing.
These changes have hit Village Inn, a classic American diner-style breakfast and lunch chain, especially hard.
Village Inn has closed more than 110 restaurants
Coffee shops and food delivery have chipped away at the demand for diners.
On a personal note, 34 years ago, my future wife and I went on our first date to see a movie. Afterward, there were no Starbucks around, but an all-night diner on Long Island, in New York, offered drinks and a large menu. These experiences highlight how diners have long served as informal social hubs in American life.
Village Inn had no Long Island locations, and its restaurants do not operate 24/7, but it offers the traditional diner breakfast-all-day fare, along with a classic lunch menu.
The chain has been suffering and has closed about 100 restaurants nationwide. It has not announced mass closures like Denny’s. Instead, patrons at individual locations that have operated for decades have shown up to find signs indicating closures.
“This location has completely closed,” a sign at the south Denver metro restaurant reads, according to a Facebook Post. “We wish to prolong out sincerest appreciation to you, our visitors, and our unimaginable workers for the entire years of operation. In any case, it takes a village. We hope to see you at one in every of our close by places to dig into one thing scrumptious.”
Village Inn filed for bankruptcy in 2020
The diner chain closed 33 locations after its parent company’s 2020 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, according to documents filed on PacerMonitor.
At the time of the filing, the American Blue Ribbon, which owned Village Inn, blamed “excessive wages and rising competitors for declining gross sales and better working losses,” NRN reported. The chain particularly cited IHOP and Denny’s, two chains which have additionally closed important numbers of eating places in recent times, as competitors.
The corporate did survive its Chapter 11 submitting.
Extra Eating places
- Taco Bell and KFC work on simplifying their eating places
- Chick-fil-A making main change to 425 eating places nationwide
- Bankrupt beer and pizza restaurant chain closes places
- Restaurant chain famed for impolite waiters closes a number of places
“The confirmation of the Plan by the Court results in a healthy capital structure and foundation for each of the businesses to optimize their value,” American Blue Ribbon Holdings CEO Craig Barber mentioned in a press release to NRN.
Village Inn continues to function, however has closed roughly half of its greater than 210 places because the Chapter 11 submitting.
Diners usually serve breakfast all day.
Shutterstock
Village Inn closings: Fundamental information
- Jan. 24, 2020: Round 24 Village Inn places abruptly shut (locked doorways reported to workers) in a number of states together with AZ, CO, FL, IA, UT, NE, and NM forward of the chapter submitting, reported Restaurant Enterprise.
- Jan. 27, 2020: Mother or father firm American Blue Ribbon Holdings filed for Chapter 11 chapter and closed 33 eating places throughout Village Inn and Bakers Sq. as a part of reorganization, in response to Restaurant Enterprise.
- Publish‑chapter Sept. 14, 2020: Village Inn emerged from Chapter 11 with about 140 places below reorganized guardian VIBSQ Holdings LLC, in response to NRN.
- 2021: VIBSQ Holdings (Village Inn + Bakers Sq.) was offered to BBQ Holdings, Inc., shifting model possession and technique, in response to Restaurant Dive.
- 2022 and 2023 closures: Particular person eating places continued to completely shut, such because the Grand Junction, CO, web site in Jan. 2023 and the final Casper, WY, location closing in Oct. 2023, reported 94.1 KIX Nation.
- 2024-2025 footprint: A model knowledge report lists 112 U.S. Village Inn places as of late 2025, down from 116 in early 2024, indicating ongoing web closures, in response to knowledge from Scrape Hero.
- Jan. 2026 closures: Two extra Village Inn eating places in Colorado (Highlands Ranch & Greeley) closed, reported K99.
Since reaching its peak of greater than 220 places, Village Inn has steadily decreased its footprint to 111 eating places as of late 2025, with incremental closures in a number of states over the previous 5 years.
Diners maintain a particular place in American tradition
Man Fieri has visited a whole bunch of diners on his Meals Community present, “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.” He has additionally helped redefine the class.
Fieri himself described the eating places that his present visits in an interview with CBS Information.
“A lot of these mom-and-pop joints are the fabric of the community,” Fieri mentioned. “You know, these are places the kids got jobs, these are places where you got engaged, these are places where you had your great memories, these are places that you went and got a gift certificate as a donation to your kid’s soccer team.”
Historian Richard Gutman shared his ideas on the historic significance of diners.
“Over their long history, diners have been a subtle part of our built environment and also our inner landscapes. They are as familiar as the language we speak and the comfort food we eat. Everyone loves diners,” he wrote.
Associated: Restaurant model shuts doorways instantly on account of new development
