— By Morven Groves — The benefits of private-equity backing in 2023. It’s no secret that the restaurant industry is facing a significant challenge in the form of inflation, which has led to increased costs on everything from labor to food and beverages. In response, many companies have taken one, if not several, price raises over the last 18 months or so. While industry sales remained positive overall at the end of 2022, an estimated 95% of those sales went to offsetting the increased cost of labor and goods. …