2023 was a difficult year for LA restaurants — dozens of notable and historic restaurants permanently closed, and more closings are slated for early 2024.
Beyond the typical thin profit margins and high failure risks of keeping a kitchen afloat, LA restaurateurs are claiming that 2023 was the most challenging year in recent history – even more than the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Food journalist Mona Holmes says this is due to one consistent trend: higher prices: “[Prices are higher] due to the rising costs of goods, and not just for those who are in business, it’s for [diners] too.”
Add rising rents, minimum wages, and local labor struggles, including the entertainment industry strikes from the summer.
“This is an industry town, and we have a lot of executives or people who work on film and TV sets that go out to eat. And the strike lasted 148 days. And so that meant 148 days of people not working, [and] execs not wanting to be seen spending while negotiating a new contract with actors and writers,” says Holmes, who adds that the owner of Leona’s Sushi in Studio City noticed a 30% drop in customers during the strike.
Despite the closings, Holmes still says 2023 saw major standout trends in dining. “One of my favorites was how there’s these grocer-dining spots like Sua Superette in Larchmont … Little Fish in Echo Park, Carla’s in Highland Park. At each place, you can dine in or get goods to take [out],” says Holmes.
Now as Angelenos are a few days into the new year, that means new food, new trends, and thanks to the Los Angeles City Council, new dining regulations to make outdoor restaurants a permanent fixture locally. LA’s al fresco dining program originally launched in 2020 to temporarily allow restaurants to convert spaces like sidewalks and parking lots into outdoor eating areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, the LA City Council voted unanimously to make those allowances permanent.
Looking ahead this year, Holmes predicts that Italian food will be a major trend for local dining. “LA seems to be on this Italian train, like [there are a] number of places that have opened that are mostly Italian like Funke in Beverly Hills, or the red tablecloth-style but still very upscale [venue] in Echo Park called Donna’s,” says Holmes.
The trend she’s most excited about: the continuation of the labor movement within restaurants. “Starbucks workers, Koreatown restaurant workers, all unionizing. And then there was Gavin Newsom, our governor, signing that historic bill that establishes a fast food council that’s designed to aid fast food workers … with more power and more protections.”