As long as people need to eat and socialize, the food and beverage industry will survive the ebb and flows of life - by Dennis Serpone

It starts with your morning ritual of stopping by a Dunkin drive-thru for a cup of coffee and a donut on the way to work. It could also be leaving your house and on the way stopping at your favorite breakfast café for the fuel that will sustain you till lunch. At lunch time, you need a break so running out to a local fast food outlet, or if appropriate, a drop into that special local restaurant for a mid-day pick-me-up is non-negotiable. If you’re married, you’re wondering if you should take the family out to dinner, with the decision of what place is most appropriate or appreciated. If you’re single, you might be considering, out of a plethora of choices, where the better experience is offered. Also making up the decision of where and when to eat out of the home, is which, of all the choices at hand, will give you the best experience for the money. That ultimate decision is many times based on which of your options offer the best ‘competitive advantage’. 

In high school it was being taller, prettier, or having a nice car.

In the world of business, success is tied directly to being perceived as having that special reason that attracts customers. At the macro-level it could be the location of a shopping mall closest to a major population center, and right off an interstate highway. The Burlington Mall was one of the first examples of retail development success and it set the standard for future retail centers…as in Assembly Row in Somerville, Derby Street Shops in Hingham, Mass. or Tuscan Village in Salem, NH. At the micro-level, having a competitive advantage is crucial. Today, the success of business, any business, depends on how the consumer sees you. In general terms, a business owner who is fighting for consumer attention has to focus on “How does my customer see me?”and “Why will he give me his business rather than go to one of my competitors?”. A perfect example is the competition between the three major cell giants…Verizon, T-Mobile, and Consumer Cellular.

This is especially true in the food and beverage industry. With every facet of this industry over-developed, a business owner has to differentiate himself from his competitors. When a family is reviewing the myriad of choices available for dinner, why does he choose one restaurant over another? Is it a convenient location and accessibility, is it food quality and pricing, is it atmosphere and service, or more likely it’s a combination of all of those factors triggering a cerebral decision.

Many dinner houses are closed on Mondays, and some don’t open on Tuesdays. Except for fast food, many full-service, and some casual dining operations don’t bother opening till 4 p.m., and with restaurants that used to be ‘busy’ till 9 or 10 p.m. each night accepting the fact that ‘busy’ is ending at 8 p.m., there has never been a more important need to have a ‘competitive advantage’.

Our team was recently engaged to review the operations of a well-established restaurant/pub in the Boston market that is doing $80,000 per week and losing money. After extensive review of their financials, menu, and marketing it was determined that the reason they were doing that volume is because they were providing excellent food at giveaway prices…volume at the cost of profit. In essence, that was their unintentional ‘competitive advantage’.

To turn this sinking ship around, our advice was obviously subtle, but impactful menu changes. But more importantly, our advice addressed creating a reason for customers to stay beyond 8 p.m. and attracting new customers with entertainment. Integrating various programs of music and comedy has added an additional $20,000 per week of additional volume and creating intentional ‘competitive advantage’.

According to the National Restaurant Association, total restaurant and food service sales are projected to reach $1.55 trillion in 2026, a 4.8% increase from 2025. But much of that headline growth is driven by menu pricing rather than traffic, with real inflation-adjusted growth closer to 1.3%.

Rising food costs and staffing issues remain the most persistent challenges facing operators — and the first half of 2026 has done little to ease that pressure.

My incredible staff of restaurant specialists has never been busier and the number of multi-million dollar closings has eclipsed all past years. Buyers see the future and sellers focus on the past.

As long as people need to eat and socialize, the food and beverage industry will survive the ebb and flows of life.

Dennis Serpone is founder of the National Restaurant Exchange, Wakefield, Mass