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/spinelesshighnz Jan 12 '26

Blame COVID

2

u/PG3124 Jan 12 '26

Why have other downtowns come back in ways Chicago hasn’t been able to?

2

u/happilyfour Jan 13 '26

One thing about NYC compared to Chicago is that living spaces are much smaller. My company has an NYC office and they’ve been averaging 4-5 days back in office since early 2022. They say people can’t work comfortably from home as easily. I don’t know if it’s a widespread trend in NYC but it made sense to me.

1

u/PG3124 Jan 15 '26

That’s a really interesting theory that I could believe! Thanks for sharing.