Late-Night Diners Mourn the Loss of Late-Night Diners

“Definitely I am nostalgic for those days,” said Mr. Williamson, a nursing assistant in the hospital emergency department.

A classic American part of life—cramming into booths for burgers or eggs and bacon with friends in the middle of the night—went dark during the pandemic and hasn’t fully returned.

Many bars and restaurants were required to halt indoor dining or limit hours after Covid-19 began spreading in early 2020. While daytime hours are mostly back to normal, some restaurants never fully resumed their late-night hours, saying it’s been hard to coax back both workers and customers.

For late-shift workers, college students and other night owls, the loss of the venues has given them heartburn.

Members of Vintersea, a Portland-based melodic progressive metal band, typically seek out pizza, tacos, brewpubs, food trucks and all-night diners after gigs that often end around 1 a.m.

During a tour last fall, the group ended up driving 30 minutes outside San Diego after they couldn’t find any late-night options in the city, eventually arriving at a diner swarming with other patrons. “The staff seemed somewhat overwhelmed, assumedly because there were so few competitors open,” said Candice Nix, a law clerk and wife to the band’s guitarist, who joined the band on the road to sell merchandise.

With fewer after-hours options, the band resorted to gas station snacks, Ms. Nix said, like peanut butter crackers and bags of popcorn. Current restaurant hours are an impediment to touring life, she said.

The late-night hangout Agave Burrito Bar at Oberlin College closed during the pandemic, leaving recent grad Hannah Sandoz and other students without a place to get their 2 a.m. Mexican fix. She said the late-night food helped prevent hangovers. “It’s a practical decision and keeps the party going just a tiny bit longer until we’re all ready to crash,” she said.

Ms. Sandoz, a Louisiana native who said shared meals were a central part of growing up in her Cajun family, said she didn’t eat out much as a result. “The entire student body at Oberlin felt that loss,” the 21-year-old music school graduate said.

America’s all-night eateries have been portrayed in culture high and low, from Edward Hopper’s late-night scene in “Nighthawks” to movies such as “Diner.” Countless film noir detectives ordered coffee and pie—later spoofed in the TV series “Twin Peaks.”

When restaurants across the country had to shut down in early 2020, Anil Yadav had to call a locksmith. Many of the 114 Denny’s locations that the Fremont, Calif.-based restaurateur operated had never actually closed before. “We were 24-7 forever,” said Mr. Yadav. “Locking the front door was never a priority.”

Before the pandemic, lines of customers used to pile into Mr. Yadav’s string of Denny’s after bars closed. The bars are open again, but Mr. Yadav said his restaurants are still operating on shortened hours because he lost employees who anchored his nighttime shifts, including students and families who needed flexible schedules.

Locations of other big chains such as

McDonald’s Corp.

, Subway and Burger King, along with

IHOP

and

BJ’s Restaurants Inc.

are also often closing their doors earlier in the evening. Franchisees and company executives said fewer servers, cooks and counter workers are available to staff late night and early morning hours in many areas, and it’s not clear as many customers will be out in the wee hours.

Spartanburg, S.C.-based

Denny’s Corp.

—home of the Grand Slam breakfast—has been campaigning to make good on a slogan the company adopted about a decade ago: “America’s diner is always open.”

“It’s the biggest missed sales in the business,” said Mr. Yadav, the California-based Denny’s operator, referring to late-hours diners. He has bumped up his graveyard shift pay and dispatched managers to malls to hand out fliers about job openings. Denny’s franchise agreements require owners to be open 24 hours a day, unless they average few customers at night, operate in rural areas or qualify for other exemptions.

Earlier this year, Denny’s promoted a new slogan, “Open for Anything.”

Nocturnal eaters are trying to adapt. Isabelle Olson, an 18-year-old psychology major at University of California, Los Angeles, said it’s often 1 a.m. by the time she gets around to one of her main meals of the day. The dining hall in her building used to be open until 2 a.m., she said, but it now closes at midnight. At times she picks up her favorite meal—a pesto pizza with a four-cheese blend—before the cafeteria closes, and sometimes lets it sit in her dorm room until she gets around to eating it cold.

More than 6,000 bars that serve food have closed since the pandemic hit, and nearly 8,000 diners have shuttered for good, according to Datassential, a food-industry market-research firm.

In Tacoma, Wash., a location run by Pacific Northwest chain Shari’s Management Corp. closed its doors earlier this year, leaving locals one less option for 24-hour grub. The move also left Anne Hauntz, a waitress for more than a decade at the Tacoma Shari’s, without the regulars who posted up in her section each weekend during the overnight shift, dubbing themselves the “Anne Shari’s fan club.”

Ms. Hauntz, who now works at a different local restaurant, said the group often commiserated over one another’s struggles. She said she has come to miss them, along with the kids from a nearby school who descended on her booths after sporting events and prom, and also her co-workers.

“It’s very sad actually,” she said. “I’ve been to baby showers, weddings, birthday parties and funerals over the years [with people from the restaurant]. My oldest is 21 and she grew up with Shari’s, along with the rest of my children.”

Write to Heather Haddon at [email protected]