Originally Posted by
runnerwallah
Interesting observation. Does this only happen with older restaurants, or have you seen this with newer ones?
My favorite restaurant - it's been running for decades - still puts out good quality food, but I've noticed that the portions are slowly getting smaller. There's also more filler like lettuce under the entree. It seems like restaurants that have been in business for a long time are cutting corners to see how "efficient" they can get.
I wonder if this effect is predominant with older restaurants who can bank on their reputation to put out a slightly less good product.
It could also be a factor of how large the menu is and how often it is updated. Restaurants with those one page menus that are updated often can adjust prices more easily to reflect surges in cost, whereas my local chinese place that has had the same 100 item menu and $6.95 lunch specials for years is more likely to just adjust quantity.