Restaurant industry thinning out ranks

Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 4--When Plano-based Bennigan's Grill & Tavern and Steak & Ale headed for bankruptcy court last week, the chains' parent company joined a bounty of other restaurant operators locking the doors on their weakest concepts. It was one of four major restaurant bankruptcies during the first seven months of this year -- compared with only two during all of 2007. "In periods of stress in the industry before, we typically have not seen more than six bankruptcies in a year," said Ron Paul, president of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm. "And we already have four. "We're well on our way to the most we've seen in a single year" since the 1980s, he said, when the economy was roiled by tumbling real estate values and the S&L crisis. So far this year, Dallas diners have said goodbye to such... [read full story]