Too many restaurants in the USA?

In less than 20 years, the number of restaurants and bars has seen a 49 percent increase, now many of these restaurants must close due to the crisis.Since 1990, the number of restaurants and bars has grown to 537,000 from 361,000, a 49 percent increase, according to the National Restaurant Association. Population in the United States grew 23 percent in that period. Now consumers are cutting back, and dining out is among the casualties. Finer restaurant chains have been hit hard, and so have the casual sit-down places that flooded suburban shopping centers and tourist districts across the country, aimed straight at middle American tastes. Midrange restaurants like Applebee’s needed to shutter about 1,200 of its roughly 18,000 locations to regain financial health.