Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary reveals why restaurants are closing down across America and warns MORE closures are on the way

The American restaurant industry is on the menu.

Seemingly every day there is a headline announcing a bankruptcy, layoff or store closure, impacting one of the country’s most beloved brands.

Last month, Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 after closing nearly 100 stores. Cracker Barrel – with restaurants in 45 states – has seen its stock value plummet over the past year. The once-thriving Boston Market chain, which had 1,200 locations in the 1990s, has now reportedly been reduced to two dozen.

So, what’s behind this quick, casual settlement?

It’s proof that the inflation virus is still infecting America’s post-pandemic economy.

Supply chains crippled by the COVID pandemic lockdown have not recovered. Food costs – especially for proteins such as chicken, beef and seafood – have risen 30 to 40 percent in the past 36 months. Worst of all for the restaurant industry, customers have not yet returned from the closures.

Business closures and social distancing mandates forced people to change the way they eat. Sixty million Americans – a large portion of the population aged 60 and over – were forced to use their smartphones to order a “treat dinner” for the first time in 2020.

But now these consumers feel comfortable asking for Chinese from their living room couch.

And while Americans rarely worked from home before the pandemic, an estimated 22 million working adults (about 14 percent of the workforce) have not returned to the office, according to the Pew Research Center.

This means that fewer people go out for lunch or dinner with colleagues after work.

This has been devastating for companies that have invested in physical locations. Eateries in urban locations have been particularly hard hit as their expensive locations no longer receive the footfall they need to meet rents.

To survive, many have had to convert themselves into commercial kitchens specializing solely in takeaway food.

Some companies will have to go bankrupt, completely reorganize themselves and move to cheaper areas.

However, there is nothing to be done if consumers simply refuse to spend money.

Overall, wages have not kept pace with inflation and Americans are looking for cheaper alternatives.

Even high-end casual burger chain BurgerFi is now fighting for survival and considering bankruptcy options amid a punishing sales slump.

In this economy, a “luxury McDonald’s” is a luxury that many cannot afford.

Inflation is devastating for middle-income earners (who earn $68,000 a year) because budgets are already tight and transportation, housing and energy costs are rising.

Unfortunately, there’s no telling when – if ever – these awards will come back to earth.

Red Lobster has suffered a triple whammy. The volatile prices of seafood and valuable real estate were probably bad enough. But California’s disastrous new regulations may have proven too much for the multi-location chain on the West Coast.

The restaurant industry’s struggles are most pronounced in deep-blue California, where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has turned the not-so-golden state into the closest American facsimile to Venezuela.

Newsom signed a law in September that raises the minimum wage for fast-food workers from $16 an hour to $20, making decades-old businesses unprofitable overnight.

A California trade group estimated that the Maduro-style edict led to the layoffs of nearly 10,000 workers before the law took effect on April 1.

A West Coast Burger King franchisee with 140 restaurants announced it would replace employees with digital order-taking kiosks. A major Pizza Hut operator cut delivery services and laid off thousands of drivers.

Now, just 90 days into the new regime, businesses are dropping like flies.

Earlier this month, beloved Mexican chain Rubio’s Coastal Grill announced it was closing 48 restaurants in the state due to the “rising cost of doing business.”

Blaze Pizza is closing its California locations and moving its headquarters from Pasadena to Atlanta to cut its state tax rate by more than a third.

Newsom’s far-left administration is completely out of touch with the reality of inflation – and the governor has the blood of these failed companies on his hands.

It all adds up to terrible news for the American economy.

While major chains Red Lobster and Burger Fi are making headlines, restaurants across the country are facing the same problems.

As many as 62 percent of jobs in this country are created by companies with between five and five hundred employees. But during the pandemic, President Biden focused solely on supporting the S&P 500 companies with massive stimulus packages.

Consider the Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips and Science Act, which are estimated to cost $1 trillion and $80 billion, respectively. Neither bill included a dime for small businesses.

As much as President Biden desperately wants to convince the American people that ‘Bidenomics works.’

It’s not.

On his wobbly podium, Biden explains that he is rebuilding the economy from the bottom up.

This evidence suggests otherwise.