2026 Mid-Year Review Featured Company: National Restaurant Exchange

National Restaurant Exchange
Headquarters: Wakefield, MA
Founded: 1980
Services: Restaurant Brokerage and Consulting
www.NationalRestaurantExchange.com

What projects, initiatives, or types of work have been keeping your team busiest during the first half of 2026?
2026 has been a water-shed experience. Since Covid-19, 2020, the food and beverage industry was slowly recovering, albeit in a limited sense. People are getting out of the house, socializing, and reconnecting at a favorite food emporium. However, over those past few years, the cost of operating has exploded.

Inflation as it relates to food cost has gone from an average of 35% to 45 or 50%. Concurrently labor costs, and related taxes and insurance have skyrocketed.

Fast food, pubs, and breakfast have weathered the storm the best. Full and casual service restaurants have been forced to close one or two days per week and many are closed by 9 or 10 PM. Subsequently, many restaurants are quietly seeking buyers.

What trends or shifts have stood out most to you so far this year within your industry?
The most glaring observation has to do with full & casual restaurants closing by 9 or 10 PM...the ‘second seating’ has virtually disappeared. Conversely, home-delivery services, Grub Hub and Door Dash, have never been busier. Home-delivery service has always been the ‘edge’ that DOMINOES had over the general pizzeria market. However, that is changing. People who previously routinely frequented ‘restaurants’ have opted to pay more for the convenience of home-delivery...higher delivery prices have offset the 20% waitress gratuity fee.

What challenges or opportunities have had the biggest impact on your business during the first half of 2026?
Even though we’ve completed several multi-million dollar deals so far this year, finding sellers who are realistic in an asking price has been a challenge. The reality is that sellers pick a selling price out of the air...a number that they’re comfortable with but a number that many times bears no resemblance to its market value. A recent, actual, and legitimate Profit & Loss Statement that indicates the annual net profit will determine a selling price. Many sellers load non-business related expenses onto their P&L which ultimately affects the price that a ready & willing buyer will pay.

As we look ahead to the second half of the year, what are you watching most closely?
The war in Iran’s is causing the inflation that is affecting both the food & beverage and the general consumer markets to curtail, to some extent the way people spend money. If Trump successfully ends the Iran war and Israel can succeed in defending its borders, the stock market will explode, inflation should subside and Americans will go back to a level of economic security. The food and beverage industry needs a shot in the arm, Supposedly, the legislators have passed a law allowing the return of HAPPY HOURS in Mass., yet the Governor has yet to sign its acceptance. A simple stroke of a pen can bring life to a barely surviving industry. Lets see what develops.