• "Slop bowl" hubs like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Cava have recently struggled with slumping sales. • I taste-tested meals at the three chains to see why the restaurants are losing ground. • While the food was fresh and the flavors at each chain were tasty, their real problem is value.

It appears the era of the "slop bowl" may be fading.

Fast-casual restaurants like Chipotle, Sweetgreen, and Cava had been exceptions to the restaurant industry's slumping sales and diminished foot traffic as consumers curbed their spending over the better part of the last year.

Those days seem to be over: $20 can now get you table service with your Triple Dipper at Chili's, and other casual and fast-food chains are ramping up their combo meal offerings. Doesn't that muck up the slop bowl's value propo

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