Growth Chains Update: Class of 2007Growth Chains Update: Class of 2007

Ask any restaurateur to compare what it was like doing business in early 2007 to operating in today’s environment, and likely you will hear tales about how much the foodservice marketplace has changed.


Many in the industry sailed into 2007 with optimistic expansion plans based on previous years of positive growth and an American consumer who seemed to have an endless capacity for dining out. In hindsight, 2007 seemed to possess a “build it and they will come” kind of quality.


And while storm clouds of the Great Recession were gathering on the horizon, few could foretell the breadth and depth of the changes the downturn would inflict on businesses across the United States and around the world in the years that followed.


But change came — ...