Some of Los Angeles\u2019s most iconic eateries \u2014 Papa Cristo\u2019s in Pico-Union, Guerrilla Tacos in Downtown and French eatery TAIX in Echo Park \u2014 have closed their doors, prompting hand-wringing about the decline of the city\u2019s rich and diverse food scene.<\/p>\n
But those closures obscured a more notable achievement; 758 new restaurants opened last year, surpassing the previous record set in 2024, when 729 restaurants opened.<\/p>\n
The split-screen view of dining in Los Angeles is part of a broader transformation that is reshaping the industry nationwide.<\/p>\n
The explosion of digital-order services has rewritten the business model for restaurants, which are now operating with less space, reduced staff and tighter margins. Many of the new eateries do much of their business from behind a screen\u2014either through self-service tablets or off delivery apps such as DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats.<\/p>\n
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So-called \u201climited-service\u201d restaurants now account for nearly a third of all newly opened establishments. The number of traditional, or full-service, restaurants has also been growing, hitting 539 openings in 2025, and a record-high 587 the year before. If you count the number of coffee, smoothie and snack joints, the numbers rise even further.<\/p>\n
Pizza to go<\/p>\n
Many of Los Angeles\u2019s restaurateurs are adapting to this burgeoning business model. Last year, Liz Gutierrez turned her pop-up restaurant, Fiorelli Pizza<\/a>, into a small brick-and-mortar location in Beverly Grove with just a couple of stools at a counter for seating. As she saw restaurants closing their doors, the advantages of the new business model quickly dawned on her.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was something that could be operated with minimum labor, it could be way more manageable in terms of fixed costs and expenses, and we could still deliver restaurant-quality [food],\u201d Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n The bevy of new food establishments opening their doors is a lone bright spot in an otherwise bleak economic picture: The total number of new businesses opening in the city<\/a> is nearly half what it was a decade ago. That is driven in part by some of the same forces, such as Amazon.com, Inc. and other online retailers that put pressure on businesses operating out of traditional storefronts.<\/p>\n But the flourishing restaurant industry has been able to buck that trend so far. While Amazon can deliver clothes and even groceries, it still can\u2019t deliver a fresh pizza or pok\u00e9 bowl.<\/p>\n The QR code will take your order<\/p>\n Linchi Kwok, a hospitality management researcher at Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, said a lack of interest in working in the hospitality industry, paired with rising labor costs, has pushed restaurant owners to find cost-effective workarounds to run their operations with fewer people.<\/p>\n \u201cLimited-service restaurants don\u2019t have to hire many people to do the work. It saves labor costs, saves space, and saves the service turn-around time. They don\u2019t have to worry about it,\u201d Kwok said.<\/p>\n Restaurants must share a portion of their already slim profit margins\u2014usually between 2-4% in L.A.\u2014with an app service and the driver. To offset that, restaurants have cut down on staff, letting go of waiters, hostesses and dishwashers, many of whom are no longer needed when orders are increasingly being delivered in disposable containers.<\/p>\n Despite the record number of openings, running a restaurant in the city has not gotten any easier. Jot Condie, president and chief executive of the California Restaurant Association<\/a>, noted that in 2024 taxable restaurant revenue hit $11 billion, which, when adjusted for inflation, is on par with 2012 levels.<\/p>\n \u201cThe piece of the pie that each restaurant gets is slimmer.\u201d<\/p>\n Condie also said that the hollowing out of entertainment work, increased presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and stricter regulations \u201care conspiring against the L.A. restaurant scene.\u201d<\/p>\n Condie said that regulations from city hall, such as stricter labor oversight and a proposal for a $30 minimum wage for some workers, are making it even tougher.<\/p>\n \u201cThe business environment is bad generally in L.A., but the city council and the mayor seem to be throwing salt in the wound.\u201d<\/p>\n As the number of new restaurant openings has spiked, so have the number of closings reported to the city. However, business closure figures are not as reliable as business opening data, as some establishments close without reporting it to the city. Since 2021, 593 full- and limited-service restaurants have reported closing, compared with 3,148 openings.<\/p>\n Jimmy Chu spent several years working in fine dining, which inspired him to start his own restaurant. He knew it would be expensive. Rather than opening another fine-dining establishment, he opted for a limited-service restaurant where customers could order at the counter, no waiters involved.<\/p>\n Chu quit his job by the end of 2024, and in May 2025, he opened Bomb Hot Dog<\/a> in Downtown Los Angeles. He estimates that his eatery gets roughly a third of its customers through mobile delivery orders.<\/p>\n Ghost kitchens<\/p>\n Ghost kitchens, or private kitchens used exclusively for delivery and takeout, have become a business model of their own. At\u00a0Beverly Bites<\/a>, 56 restaurants operate out of one facility serving the densely populated Beverly Hills and Beverlywood neighborhoods, though not all of them are open simultaneously. At\u00a0Echo Park Eats<\/a>, 40 restaurants are now within a five minute walk of Dodger Stadium. The Los Angeles Dodgers schedule was hung on the wall inside the facility, so owners can anticipate heavy foot traffic and delivery orders during home games.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n