Why 24-Hour Diners May Never Come Back
24-hour diners are struggling to stay open for business — for all 24 hours of the day, at least. If chain restaurants are any indication, that schedule is currently a rough one to justify staying open for, and this trend stems from our habits changing dramatically during the pandemic. It's been some years since the worst of it, but ever since people started going out less, dining patrons have been starting and ending their evenings earlier overall.
Back in 2022, Denny's was holding onto 24/7 service for dear life, but it acknowledged that the road ahead would be long in that regard. And unfortunately, it's continued to hit some snags along the way. Not only did the company take a bit of a beating during 2023 — the breakfast chain slowly shrank by 57 locations that year — but it also recently had to announce that it was closing over 150 locations, with 100 of those closures happening in 2025.
But there's other operating issues as well. Less employees want to work the graveyard shift, and trying to hire people for hours that are unappealing (especially knowing that it's likely to be slow) makes it even harder to financially justify for business operators to stay open during the wee hours.
Since people are drinking less, they're seeking late night food less too
Another reason why people aren't out as late as they used to? They're drinking markedly less, especially the younger generations. And drinking at a bar isn't cool anymore, as evidenced by a shift towards imbibing in the comfort of one's own home. That means late nights of mayhem don't need to be replenished by plates of late night omelettes or patty melts nearly as often. Besides, with the prevalence of late night delivery options, why put on a full outfit when you can have restaurant food brought right to your front door?
It doesn't help that the ingredients for diner food has gone up quite a bit; there are still so few eggs at the grocery store due to the ongoing avian flu egg shortage, which continues to drive prices up. So there's a perfect storm going on right now, and it's chipping away at our favorite refuges for late night refueling. It's too bad, because nothing hits quite like a breakfast platter at two in the morning while sitting in a booth with friends.