The U.S. restaurant industry continues to be impacted by high wages, food cost inflation and traffic woes in 2024 after two years of strong growth. The Zacks defined Retail – Restaurants industry is currently in the bottom 35% of the Zacks Industry Rank. In the past year, the industry has grown just 3.3%, while its year-to-date return is a mere 1.1%. The broad-market index — the S&P 500 — has rallied 29.3% and 18.8%, respectively, over these periods. Since the restaurant industry is ranked in the bottom hal ...