Less mall traffic means less mall food

Cheesecake Factory. Red Robin. P.F. Chang's. Ruby Tuesday. Can you guess what these dine-in style restaurants have in common? Well, if you said they're all overpriced, you're not wrong (in my opinion), but that's not the answer I was looking for. These four eateries have one big thing in common, namely a seemingly ubiquitous presence in our country's malls and shopping centers. While those are not the only places you'll find them, the majority of these restaurants' locations exist in these consumer meccas.

And why is this important?

Well, the answer is simple - these restaurants are highly dependent on the traffic brought by the nearby or adjourning retail shopping centers. Given that, it's reasonable to assume that if there is a decline in traffic or spending at a given shopping location, traffic at the neighboring Ruby Tuesday (or whatever) would suffer as well.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, this is exactly what is happening now. What was once a symbiotic relationship between your nearby mall and the adjoining Cheesecake Factory has definitely gone sour in the ladder's mouth during the past few months. In October alone, Red Robin's sales declined by eight percent.

And just like the state of our economy in general, this situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. Well, the night is always darkest before dawn. Insert similar cliche catchphrase.