My grandfather bought the land where our family business, Lynn Ladder & Scaffolding, still operates. That’s a prescient move that provides protection against business slowdowns and having your location sold out from underneath you.

It’s likely that our 80-year-old family business, which mostly offers scaffolding rentals, would still exist.

That’s a lesson many local restaurants have learned as their leases come up and they’re offered renewal rates well above what they can afford.

It’s also what forced Beans & Barley, a beloved 52-year-old Milwaukee institution, to make the decision close forever later in January.

Beans & Barley loses its location

Current owners James Neumeyer and Polly Kaplan, who have operated the restaurant and specialty market since 2012, confirmed the closure and shared that the decision was shaped by both financial pressures and the sale of the building, On Milwaukee reported.

“There is an accepted offer on the building,” noted co-owner Polly Kaplan in an email. “We had long expected we would be the ones to buy the building when the time came. Unfortunately, our sales have declined while expenses skyrocketed so it no longer made sense to us. We are permanently closing as of January 31. Our main concern is helping our existing employees find somewhere to land.”

Local businesses are vulnerable to rent increases.

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Beans & Barley owners speak from the heart

The owners shared a heartfelt message on the restaurant’s Instagram page on behalf of its employees.

“If you are an employer in the hospitality business, we strongly urge you to hire someone from our incredible staff. Any of you would be lucky to have one of our 70 employees doing the great work they have done for us,” the owners shared.

They then made a passionate plea for people to support small businesses.

“We also want to implore you, should you have the means, please frequent and support your local small businesses, restaurants, venues, bars, maker spaces, gift shops, you shops, vintage stores, artists, book shops, healers, record stores, support your local radio, theatres, art spaces, etc.,” they posted.

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They closed with a stark reminder. “They won’t make it without you. They make up your community. They are what make this city incredible, and they need you.”

Beans & Barley is not alone

Beans & Barley is far from alone. Across the country, numerous beloved local restaurants have closed in 2025, highlighting the widespread challenges facing small dining businesses today.

• Masala Lab (Portland, OR): A popular Indian‑inspired brunch restaurant announced it would close permanently on January 26, 2025, with the owner citing rising costs that made continued operation unsustainable, according to Bridgetown Bites.
• Café Camellia (Brooklyn, NY): The acclaimed Southern restaurant in East Williamsburg shuttered its doors in April 2025, thanking customers in its closure announcement, reported Greenpointers.
• Osito (San Francisco, CA): A Michelin‑starred live‑fire restaurant closed in May 2025 after struggling to justify costs in the current economic environment, according to Eater San Francisco.
• Las Cuatro Milpas (San Diego, CA): One of San Diego’s most historic Mexican restaurants (established 1933) closed on December 24, 2025, after nearly a century of service amid financial and ownership pressures, shared SanDiegoVille.
• Multiple Hudson Valley restaurants (Hudson Valley, NY): At least 23 local restaurants in the Hudson Valley region permanently closed in 2025 due to rising costs, retirement, and other pressures (including places like The River Grill and El Jaguar), according to the Times Union.

“We are still fragile when it comes to traffic and overall consumer spending,” said Victor Fernandez, vice president of insights and knowledge at Black Box Intelligence, referring to persistent challenges in same‑store traffic and sales despite modest industry gains, Restaurant Business reported.

Nationally, small business bankruptcies and restaurant closures show a slightly different picture.

Small businesses are struggling

It has always been hard to run a small business, but the past year has been even harder.

• U.S. small-business bankruptciesincreased: Small-business bankruptcies in the U.S. in 2025 did tick up slightly, but only by a very small amount (about 2,221 filings, just 10 more than in 2024), according to The Guardian.
• Restaurant closures were actually down. U.S. restaurant closings fell below 1,000 this spring, marking at least a 7-year low, according to preliminary restaurant-industry trends data from Datassential’s Sales Intelligence platform.

“In the last 5 years, food and labor costs for the average restaurant have each gone up 35%. The other expenses for running a restaurant — the building, supplies, credit card processing fees — are also going up quickly. Restaurant owners generally try to keep menu prices as low as possible – making an average of 3-5% pre-tax margin,” according to data from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

Overall, customer traffic at restaurants is still down from pre-pandemic levels.

“That means the only way most restaurant operators can cover their higher input costs is to increase menu prices. Average menu prices increased 31% between February 2020 and April 2025, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is on par with the increase needed to maintain the average 5% profit margin,” the NRA added.

Related: Major department store chain shuts more locations across nation