For most restaurants, the margins are razor thin. Look at the pre-COVID failure rate. It isn't even a matter of "prepared to pay" wages, because owners generally don't have anything more to give. If you look at the work day of a small restaurant owner, 12 hours would be a short day. I've known a lot of small restaurant owners over the years, and have seen a lot of small restaurant failures from hard working, proud people that put every last cent, and have squeezed every last drop of credit, and have put out great food at fair (but not under-market) pricing, and can't make a go of it. In some places, bureaucracy in getting the doors open don't help, and make it like leaving college with untenable student loan debt before your first paycheck. But that is just one of dozens of factors.

A couple of steaks or pieces of fish "sent back" and tossed, and then replaced, could eat up most of the evening's food (not beverage) profits.

Why bother going into the business? Well, other than as a hobby where you don't care about losses, a chef is an artist, and like any artist, finely crafted his/her art, without having a clue about Finance 101, but still wants a canvas to call his/her own.