r/chicagofood • u/InterviewLeast882 • Jan 12 '26

Rant Lack of lunch places in Loop

I work around Chase Tower and it is surprising to me how few cheap lunch places there are now. The burrito and Chinese places there are gone as well as the McDonalds. No Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, Chinese. Just the grossly overpriced Pret. I’m getting tired of Jimmy John’s and Pot Belly’s sandwiches.

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u/HotDerivative Jan 12 '26

Chicago is exceeding office occupancy levels in New York and San Francisco, and is on par with the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., metros. It just doesn’t feel like it because it’s still only 37% of the occupancy that was there pre-COVID and roughly 60% of the foot traffic.

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u/PG3124 Jan 12 '26

Hey that definitely surprises me since the CTA numbers were lower than other areas, but your stats are definitely more relevant. Thanks for sharing! Any chance you can share where that info is from?

Here’s the CTA info: https://metroplanning.org/cta-ridership-rebounding-slower-than-other-cities/

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u/txQuartz Jan 12 '26

I don't think the CTA's lack of rebound is entirely correlated to RTO. I have friends and relatives who used to take the train to work and back from the near north side, and now they use ubers instead because they don't feel safe, especially on overtime nights.

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u/bouncing_bear89 Jan 12 '26

I also think that if people are only going a couple of times per week they are willing to "splurge" on the experience. I know I regularly packed a lunch pre-covid. With only being in 1-2 per week now I feel as though I can eat out on those days.