When it comes to late night meals, you probably think of fast food chains or strategically located cookie stores, but for over a century, the 24 hour diner has been a mainstay of the genre.
Of course things have changed since then: the internet, technology, and globalization have made so many aspects of our daily life now available on demand.
We want it all, all the time. You might assume that there’s no better time than the present to be involved in a 24 hour industry.
But you’d be wrong says Jeff Biddle, an economist and professor at The University of Notre Dame
JEFF BIDDLE: The general trend is that people have been moving away from work from 10:30 PM to 4:30 AM. The overall move is more than 25% reduction in the number of workers who are out there working during that period.
Biddle spent years studying the labor market and its impact on our lives. In 2026, he co-authored a paper focusing on the large shift in typical working hours since the 1970s.
BIDDLE: And there has also been more of a concentration of work in what we might consider the peak hours, which would be, say 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. So something of a compression of the workday.
This is due to rising wages leading workers to advocate for jobs in these “peak hours” and a flexibility in worktime that only got more evident with the pandemic. What this means is that as hours shift and change, so do clientele.
BIDDLE: Although generally there has been a decline in night work, and so there’s gonna be fewer nationwide 24 hour diners, there are still places where night work is being done and some of them are in relatively new parts of the economy
Namely distribution centers and big box retail. But just hearing about these changes in labor wasn’t enough.
I decided to go check-in on the state of the 24-hour diner myself.
On a Wednesday morning at 1am, I made my way to the corner of Ashland and West North Avenue to The Hollywood Grill.
It has that classic retro diner feel with the metal counters, leather stools, multicolored tile, and a giant mural of the restaurant with famous golden age movie stars.
BRANDI FULLERTON: I’ve sat here through first dates, blind dates, last dates, all over pancakes. I’ve, I’ve experienced a lot in my years of serving overnights.
That’s Brandi Fullerton. She’s been working the night shift in 24 hour diners for 15 years and has spent the last year and a half as a server at The Hollywood Grill.
The diner’s operation is broken into 3 shifts: 6am to 2pm, 2pm to 10pm, and 10pm to 6am. Fullerton always works this last one. When I was there, the diner was pretty empty. I counted six other patrons. But Fullerton was constantly pumping out orders, just not for the diners inside. On nights like these a majority of the food Fullerton serves is for delivery services like Door Dash and GrubHub. Something she has mixed feelings about.
FULLERTON: it’s hard just because I, I’m very personal. I like to talk. There’s less engagement now, I don’t know who that is on the other end of that order.
Georg Liakopoulis is the head of Diamond Hospitality Group, the company running The Hollywood Grill along with two other 24 hour restaurants. He shares Fullerton’s frustrations about delivery apps.
GEORG LIAKOPOULIS: I would prefer not, not to do it because, you know, they, they charge you 20, 25%. They’re partners in your business without them working. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that every order that goes out, you’re, you’re losing money.
Additionally, fast food places like McDonalds and Dunkin steal customers from The Hollywood Grill. To compensate, Liakopoulis is in the process of rolling out late night menus with slight price hikes during these “non-peak” hours.
LIAKOPOULIS: We should have lines out the door and we, we don’t. Tells me there’s less demand for it at night.
Which is exactly what Biddle’s paper found. While big box work and delivery has grown, many nighttime industries are dying out.
But, these diners still serve needs in their community. For employees like Fullerton, it allows her to work while still being able to take care and be present for her five kids.
And despite the decline in customers and changing business tactics, Fullerton is confident that 24-hour diners will adapt, and most importantly, endure.
FULLERTON: People still have to eat. People are still going to wake up hungry at 2:00 AM. People are still gonna get off of work. People are always gonna need to eat.
[“Dancing in the Moonlight” performed by King Harvest plays]
And The Hollywood Grill will be there for them anytime they need.
For WNUR News, I’m Sophia Casa
