Going out to eat might feel a little different these days. Maybe you’re waiting longer for a table, even though the restaurant doesn’t appear full. Or maybe your service is slower, and your server seems anxious.

Average wages for nonmanagers at restaurants and bars hit $15 an hour in May, but many say no amount of pay would get them to return. They are leaving at the highest rate in decades.

Pandemic layoffs pushed many employees in hospitality to find jobs in new growth areas. Better pay, perks and career prospects are keeping many of them from going back.

American shoppers cruising down the seafood aisle — even those hundreds of miles away from a working coastline — are increasingly concerned about the health of the ocean. The decline of fish populations and ocean health is the sixth highest environmental concern worldwide, but Americans prioritize it even higher — ranking ocean health as their third highest environmental concern, according to 2020 survey conducted by independent research and strategy consultancy, Globescan.

Like many restaurants, New York’s Dirt Candy was a different business before the pandemic. With a staff of 35, it served only a tasting menu (plus a half-dozen a la carte items available at the bar), guests leisurely eating courses of fennel tagine, seaweed caviar with creme fraiche, or beet yakitori. “The food [at] Dirt Candy doesn’t lend itself to delivery,” owner Amanda Cohen said in the spring of 2020, unsure when she’d be able to reopen. “We would’ve had to come up with a new menu."

When there’s only space for one meat-free option on the menu, chefs often now ditch dairy for vegan alternatives. Is this the end of veggie dining?

Shukran Best Kebab – the finest Turkish restaurant in the Seven Sisters area of north London, according to some people (although it is surrounded by fierce rivals to the throne) – joined Deliveroo two years ago, and back then it seemed like a no-brainer. “Life as a small, independent restaurant is hard and the profit margins are slim,” says Hüseyin Kurt, Shukran’s owner. “We wanted more customers and money coming in and Deliveroo seemed to offer that. I didn’t think there was a downside.”

When your favorite Mexican restaurant is struggling to stay alive, what else would you do but sit in a pool of bean dip outside for 24 hours to attract diners? To drive the point home, stuntman Hunter Ray Barker is wearing a T-shirt and mask with the Los Toros restaurant logo which features three bulls, and getting his arm tattooed with the image during the marathon.

Every month, Andrew Darneille says his Smokecraft Modern Barbecue in Arlington, Va., has been losing between $15,000 and $20,000, and the numbers would be uglier if not for breaks from his bank and landlord. December was the worst yet: The owner and pitmaster says he suffered $30,000 in losses, even with a skeleton crew and a separate ghost kitchen selling fried chicken sandwiches.

Stephen Miller grilled me about caviar. Paul Manafort came in under a fake name. Wilbur Ross always got the cheapest wine (by the glass).

“We want to show you can eat differently,” said Claire Vallée, whose restaurant won the star. A growing number of chefs are eschewing France’s traditional, meat-focused cuisine.

At the Academy Tavern on Larchmere last week, Missy and Wilson Heller shared a table but not a comfort level. “I’m freaked out,” Missy said about eating out during the pandemic. “It’s all overblown,” Wilson said about the danger.

Generosity clearly runs in the Blue Bloods family. On Wednesday night, Donnie Wahlberg shared that his costar Tom Selleck recently left a $2,020 tip on a $204.68 bill for the servers at Elio's restaurant in New York City. "I found out that my TV Dad Tom Selleck has generously accepted the #2020TipChallenge at Elios Upper East Side! Love ya dad," Wahlberg posted on Twitter, along with photos of Selleck's dinner receipt and sweet handwritten note for the staff.

The product, created from animal cells without the slaughter of any chickens, will debut as a chicken bite with breading and seasoning in a single restaurant.

Despite his third-grade reading level and IQ of 71, developmentally disabled Burger King employee Andy Ehrman is the only competent member of the 22-person Frontage Road staff.

Serving Seattle since 1986, all manner of Fremont’s beloved veggie goods like that of the vegan thai peanut stir fry and vegan BBQ beyond burger are coming to a wistful goodbye as Silence Heart Nest announced its permanent closure last week.

A restaurant on Spain’s northeastern Mediterranean coast is pioneering a dining experience that allows customers to avoid most face-to-face contact with staff and minimise the risk of coronavirus contagion. Customers at Funky Pizza, in Palafrugell on the Costa Brava popular with tourists, can browse the menu, order and pay via the “Funky Pay” app on their phones - the first time a purpose-designed app has been integrated into a restaurant’s ordering system in Spain.

KFC will sell Beyond Fried Chicken at over 50 restaurants in Southern California, the chain announced on Thursday in a press release emailed to Business Insider. The plant-based chicken will be sold in greater Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as Orange County, starting July 20. It will be available in six-piece or 12-piece packs or as part of a combo meal, while supplies last.

Many of the world’s oldest businesses are restaurants for the simple reason that delicious, familiar food never goes out of fashion.

Uber is set to acquire the food-delivery startup Postmates in a $2.6 billion deal, The New York Times and Bloomberg reported Sunday.People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg and The Times that the all-stock deal could be announced as soon as Monday. According to The Times, Uber is expected to merge Postmates with its popular homegrown food-delivery app Uber Eats.