Can’t speak for grocery but I owned a bar in my community for a time.
Even if every seat was full every night, once you subtract rent, utilities, labor, taxes, licenses & fees, benefits, accounting costs, maintenance costs, processing fees, etc…
…in multiple years of operating it I put more money into it then I ever got out.
But I loved the customers and it was nice being able to give the employees a job and benefits.
I think it could have made me money if I worked there beyond full time, but I couldn’t because I had a day job that paid more.
It also could have made money if I added lottery, but…I couldn’t bring myself to do that and a lot of the customers I talked to said it’d ruin the ambiance.
When COVID finally took it, I felt sad, but I, too, felt relieved because it was just one headache after the other with no end in sight. And with rising costs it would have only gotten worse.
I don’t have a ton of evidence, but I think this Fall / Winter is going to see another string of closures and my guess is it’s because everyone is leveraged to the hilt and Summer isn’t going to save them.