Chain restaurants are hit by tariffs and inflation. How do they control costs?

"Affordable, familiar and reassuring are the features that make American chain restaurants a near-ubiquitous presence throughout the country; it is almost as if they are baked into our roadside culture. Despite well-documented financial struggles, a tough economy and shifting diet trends, these restaurants withstand time. This series explores why these places have such strong staying power and how they stay afloat at a time of rapid change."

""Every food business is a manufacturing business, and you have to look at it that way," says Stephen Zagor, a restaurant industry expert and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. "I don't care if it's the nicest, chef-driven restaurant, it's a manufacturing business, and that chef is head of manufacturing," he continued. "And how manufacturing businesses succeed is repetition and standardization and limiting waste.""

Affordable, familiar and reassuring qualities make American chain restaurants ubiquitous and embedded in roadside culture. These operations persist despite financial struggles, a tough economy and changing diet trends. Nostalgia and predictable menu items attract diners. Chain restaurants operate as manufacturing businesses that prioritize repetition, standardization and waste reduction to maintain consistency across locations. Tariffs and inflation create cost pressures, but regimented systems of purchasing, inventory management, turnover monitoring and waste limitation help sustain margins. Diners expect identical dishes at similar production costs and prices from Topeka to Honolulu. Profitability depends on disciplined buying, precise cost control and scalable operational systems.

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