The Dish: The worst restaurant trends of 2024

Okay, it’s the holiday season, a time of good cheer and joy — yeah, yeah yeah.

But for the Grinches and Scrooges among us, it’s also a good time to revisit life’s annoyances. As the world feels like it is going up in flames, I like to take stock of my resentments, to assess them like treasured artifacts, marveling at how much they irritate me and why.

I’m not the only one who’s cranky. Diners, restaurant workers and small-business owners all have plenty to be ticked off about this year. I think underlying most of it is rising inflation, and the stress that particularly high food costs bring. Customers can’t afford to go out to dinner as much when menu prices rise, but then again, no one can stay in business without customers.

Which brings me to the worst restaurant trends of 2024.

Restaurants closing

The food industry has always been cutthroat; some restaurants barely last months. But the past year has seen some beloved, tenured institutions announce they’re going out of business — including Nacho Mama’s, which closed down both its Towson and Canton locations, and Mother’s in Federal Hill. Both brands have around three decades of experience in Baltimore.

Newer eateries have been affected, too: The heart of Fells Point is still riddled with vacancies after chef Ashish Alfred closed down all three of his concepts inside the Admiral Fell Inn. Nearby, buildings that once housed neighborhood institutions, such as Bertha’s Mussels and the former Jimmy’s Restaurant, remain empty. Even big-name chains are not immune, with staples like Red Lobster shutting down four Maryland locations this year.

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Climate change

Record hot temperatures this summer gave us a Scrooge’s nightmare vision of our future. It was too sweltering for most customers to eat outside, so small-business owners who invested heavily in al fresco dining setups during the pandemic found themselves losing out on much-needed revenue. Meanwhile, professional kitchens became dangerously warm, sending one local chef to the hospital. Of course, restaurants weren’t the only businesses affected by the heat. Excessively warm weather and drought this year dealt a heavy blow to the area’s farmers, who reported stunted crops and lost revenue. It used to be that talking about the weather was safe dinnertime convo. Now, it’s just depressing.

Financial mismanagement

The past few years have seen no shortage of local restaurants accused of stealing tips from employees, not paying them promptly or failing to pay withholding taxes. Zander’s shuttered downtown amid allegations its owner Brendon Hudson paid vendors and workers with bounced checks. Peter Thomas, who formerly ran Bar One in Baltimore’s tony Harbor East neighborhood, was sentenced last week to 18 months in prison for failing to pay the government more than $2.5 million in employment taxes. It’s a trend that needs to go.

Tipping culture and hidden fees

Post-pandemic, tipping seems to be expected almost everywhere that sells food. I don’t have a problem with an “autograt,” or tip that’s been automatically added to a check. Particularly when shared across employees, it can lead to more equitable working conditions from the front of the house to the back. But I’ve noticed a few places that are less than transparent about telling customers when service fees have already been added to a check, which leaves customers to guess whether they’re expected to tip on top of that. Equally annoying is when restaurants add “inflation fees,” rather than simply raise menu prices.

Bad attitudes

When customers are feeling crabby, restaurants feel it. Benny’s co-owner Joe Gardella thinks customers have become so accustomed to ordering food online that they expect their fare to come out instantaneously. “A lot of people nowadays, they expect the food yesterday,” he said. “It’s almost like they think it’s Chipotle.” If their food’s not out promptly, guests will ask for updates like they’re tracking an order on Grubhub. So for Gardella and the staff at his Little Italy restaurant, one of the most annoying developments in the food world lately has been rising customer impatience.

Pop-ups

Baltimore is a big town for pop-ups, especially lately. Dilapidated buildings like Harborplace and even a vacant bank downtown have become home to temporary lounges and restaurants — here one day, gone the next. One restaurant hosts another business for an evening and calls it a “kitchen takeover.” A pizzeria sets up shop at an old gas station. But it’s a trend that at least one restaurant industry professional could do without. “You don’t make any money,” she said. “You can never charge enough to cover the cost of food, labor, service.” But despite finding the whole concept annoying, she declined to be named for one important reason: ”My friends keep doing them.”