Why resteraunt chains are closing, want a franchise.

[Tom D]

How America ruined its own food industry​

Restaurant prices are up, portions are smaller, and the food somehow tastes worse — almost everywhere. While private equity gets much of the blame, the deeper problem lies in food supply consolidation. A handful of massive distributors now supply ingredients to hundreds of thousands of restaurants, from diners to fine dining. That means different menus often start with the exact same pre-made components. As costs rise and labor disappears, restaurants are pushed toward frozen, pre-prepped food just to survive. The result is an ingredient monoculture — and you’re paying more for it.

 

[J Grant]

People who go to chain restaurants are sheeple. Seek out a smaller, independent, family or individual-owned restaurant instead.

 

[Gobears81]

This reminds me of something that I saw on X recently:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1952344090755887509

It really does come back to the costs, and then we are now expected to tip 15%+, even at a place like Subway.

 

[glenn walker]

Covid killed restuarant business because for two years millions learned to eat at home and to cook and then new habits were formed.

 

[Fernando]

Don't know about others but my wife and I go out to eat like 2X a week for variety.
Our refrigerator is stuff with food. I had a blackout few days ago when we had the big storm.
No electricity for 12 hours. And no AF.
Worried that my food especially my lobsters would go spoil. It appears fine. Will eat the lobsters tonight since we'll be eating out everyday coming weekend.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Free Larry Lobster

 

[George Hatch]

We get takeout perhaps once a week. We virtually never dine in. We cook most nights. I do the majority of dinners but I only do dishes sometimes.

 

[Fernando]

I missed another family clan dinner tonight which was in Palo Alto. I had to do some rental property business...and also needed to cut my hair.
Past 3 nights, my free loader younger sister has been bad-mannered. Everyone has a crazy Aunt or Uncle in the family and she's the worst.
Whenever she's in the restaurant, she is so demanding and belittles the waiters. She always asked every detail in the entree.
She comes late all the time and usually complains about everything including the food and service. She embarrasses and causes tension in the restaurant.
Last night, she didn't like to hear the music noise from next room and demanded we leave our private room to downstairs restaurant.
Tonight I heard she ordered this stew entree and she was so upset because she didn't see potatoes even though the menu stated it has potatoes.
The waitress said the potatoes are in the bottom of the dish. So my sister dip into her soup and found potato.
Then she was quiet for awhile and complained there's only one potato.
And at the end of the meal, she asked to have some water from the pitcher (1/4 filled) on the table and complained there's not enough for her to drink.
She continued making a fuss about the lack of water and finally my brother moved another pitcher (1/2 filled) to her and then she was satisfied.
There's something wrong with her. She's usually not that crazy. And she's a professional Therapist!

 

[TerryRohrer]

Ingredients are the first problem, not just in restaurant food. Nor is that a recent problem or development, as the book summarized below is 85+ years old. "Convenience" and a higher "standard of living" have a cost that is not always paid in cash.

"Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, by dentist Weston A. Price, is a seminal 1939 book documenting his global study of isolated populations, revealing that traditional diets led to excellent health, while the introduction of modern, processed foods (white flour, sugar, refined oils) caused rapid physical and dental degeneration, including crooked teeth, misshapen jaws, and increased disease susceptibility. The book argues that nutrient-dense, whole foods are essential for health, and processed foods cause a decline in physical vitality across generations.

Key findings and themes

• Traditional diets = good health:
  Price found groups with perfect teeth, strong immunity, and robust health, such as Eskimos, Pacific Islanders, and American Indians, who consumed their native diets rich in whole foods.
  
  
• Modern diets = degeneration:
  When these groups adopted "civilized" diets with processed foods, they quickly developed dental caries, crowded jaws, arthritis, and other ailments, with the problems worsening in subsequent generations.
  
  
• Focus on "primitive" peoples:
  Price's research was unique because he studied healthy, traditional societies rather than focusing solely on disease, seeking the root causes of health.
  
  
• Nutrient-dense foods:
  He identified specific nutrients in traditional foods (like organ meats, seafood, and unrefined fats) as crucial for physical development, which were lacking in modern diets. "

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Seek out a smaller, independent, family or individual-owned restaurant instead.

Even those are buying more and more pre-packaged and pre-cooked foods. They do it to cut expenses, but it often is not well received. We have a few Amish and Mennonites who are making all their food from scratch, and they are doing a land office business. I have been occasionally eating breakfast in a cafe that does prepare all their own breakfast food. But it's expensive - a very good omelette can run $15-20 with coffee. Speaking of which, a pound of coffee (or 11 oz. to be accurate) can make dozens of cups of coffee for under $10...Figure that at $2.50 A CUP. I recall pre-Starbucks that coffee cost a quarter or maybe fifty cents in a restaurant.