- 21 Jan, 2026 *
I live in a community where restaurants frequently die. Both startups and generational fixtures. You hear about the new insert-cuisine-here place, you go once or not at all, then the space is again for lease. Or a place you thought would always be there gets a farewell announcement in the local paper (that’s still a thing here), and remaining reservations are instantly sold out, as people seek one last meal at the place they made memories.
I listened with horror as a business-savvy friend imagined all restaurants having a prominently displayed countdown timer, making explicit what is always implicit, creating and advertising scarcity like musicians’ endless…
- 21 Jan, 2026 *
I live in a community where restaurants frequently die. Both startups and generational fixtures. You hear about the new insert-cuisine-here place, you go once or not at all, then the space is again for lease. Or a place you thought would always be there gets a farewell announcement in the local paper (that’s still a thing here), and remaining reservations are instantly sold out, as people seek one last meal at the place they made memories.
I listened with horror as a business-savvy friend imagined all restaurants having a prominently displayed countdown timer, making explicit what is always implicit, creating and advertising scarcity like musicians’ endless farewell tours. Make restaurants’ transience a feature. The dynamic pricing possibilities, kitchens built on transitioning rather than perfecting, more cost certainty for investors with a clear sunset date. Every restaurant a pop-up.
There are parts of a community that feel good to have even if you aren’t using them at a given moment. Parks, libraries, pubs. Restaurants. They define neighborhoods. Connect generations. People meet there, play, relax, hide, celebrate. That has value that ephemeral establishments can’t create, though they’d for damn sure try to extract profit from it.
The rhythm of a kitchen, the character of the staff, the convivial sounds, the lived-in feel of the space. All that develops over time. A good restaurant is part of a community’s ecosystem. More than just another experience to scroll through, then immediately forget.