Originally Posted by
YVR Cockroach
I remember reading here or somewhere else sometime since the "great recession" that it used to be people in the U.S. rarely if ever ate out unless they were on the higher echelons of the economic strata. Then came the chain restaurants that made dining out (relatively more) "affordable" for those on the lower end. The great recession wiped out a lot of these chains when people went back to home cooking to save/cut down debt. One wonders if the same (great wipeout) will happen again. I don't/have ever patronised these places so don't know if they've disappeared or not.
Before the COVID shutdown, my wife and I rarely (5x a year at most) ever ate out (including fast food, not due to not having money, but finding very poor value where we are than what we were used to). We've been tracking our budget and expenditures on everything spent for over half a decade. Food (basics, we pretty much make everything from basics) expenditure is USD 16 per day on which we (2 of us) eat very, very well.
What you discuss here goes so far beyond just restaurants in our society today - Many think things that are a privilege are a right. Of course, all the credit card companies and banks play right into it with slogans like, "Discover Card..... Because Life Won't Wait". Eating out is just terrible from an economic standpoint, largely due to all the items talked about here (high labor cost, etc.). Like so many other things, the ones abusing the privilege of eating out are the ones that can least afford it.