For me it seems restaurants are charging too much for sub par food that tastes like frozen cisco food they microwaved it. Then waiting staff expect 25% tips, often have bad manners and often give bad service. Overpriced drinks. Been to restaurants that charge $7 for a tiny tub of microwaved peppered sauce that should be included in the meal. Just much cheaper to cook at home and more convenient, less stressful. If you've ever been to a restaurant on valentines day, not very romantic.
It is cheaper to cook at home. But dining out is not about food alone.
Some things to think about:
1. At a restaurant, you don't have to do the dishes when you are done.
2. At a restaurant, you don't have to cook.
3. At a restaurant, you don't have to set the table or serve.
4. At a restaurant, you don't have to shop for ingredients - especially obscure ingredients.
5. Chances are the food is better at the restaurant; especially if it is a "production" meaning a complicated flavorful meal that takes a while to make - and may take longer to make if you make it.
6. For many meals, if you were to cook them, you would have extra supplies to buy so you might not save. For instance, lets say you want to cook a dinner at home that calls for 2 onions, 3 carrots, and 1 stalk of celery. Well, you might be able to buy the onions individually, but carrots are sold in bags and celery is sold whole usually; you don't buy individual carrots or stalks of celery. So, to make the meal, you have to buy the ingredients how they are sold and you'll have left over ingredients. Restaurants generally don't have that problem because they serve lots of people.
7. Some meals will require pre-made ingredients that have to be cooked on their own. For instance, my wife makes a "garlic cream sauce". That takes about two days to make and about $50.00. And then once it's made, its a few quarts of a perishable ingredient that has to be used quickly. You aren't going to make such a meal at home the same day you decide to have it.
I could keep going such as discussing the social advantages of them - and, yes, there are - but I will instead leave you with a few videos...
www.tiktok.com/.../7557044125615295774
It started in early 2020.
Restaurants got hit hard by the fucked up covid hoax mandates. Many wonderful, privately owned restaurants were driven out of business.
Prices went up drastically, too, during the Biden administration.
"Restaurant prices have significantly increased since 2020, with a FinanceBuzz report from March 2025 showing average price increases of 42% at 16 popular chain restaurants between 2020 and 2025, significantly exceeding overall inflation rates.
"Specific chains like Waffle House and IHOP have seen even higher hikes, averaging 96% and 82% respectively, largely due to factors such as supply chain disruptions, labor costs, and specific commodity price changes like a national egg crisis."
I would say that all those factors were deliberately manufactured to create shortages and hurt consumers.
My wife and I don't go to restaurants nearly as often as we used to. But there are some places near our rural area that have great food and reasonable prices.
I don't believe in automatic tipping. I think that restaurants should pay their staff enough to not depend upon tips.
But I do almost always tip between 10% and 20%, depending on the service.
Biden administration had naught to do with anything. It is a common situation. There was a global pandemic, all the oligarchs demanded state to help them out else they won't survive the short term pulse of the situation
Governments spent hundreds of billions, pushed money to sustain the economy, that money is pooled up at the rich and their attack post-covid restrictions created an insane rise in inequality
There is a British guy, who created a Youtube channel back when Covid emergency actions were just happening, to explain what was going to happen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiblHqbpXHs&t=3s
Like he literally explained it all, predicted what's to come and folk are still trying to argue whether it's Biden or Trump (Trump was still in power when this video was made) or it's the left or conservatives.
@Darklydarkened. The Biden administration went along with the covid hoax, pushed panic, and instituted mandates.
Biden, himself, may or may not have been clueless, but people in his administration were profiting from big pharma and corporate carpet baggers who destroyed lives.
They also harmed supply chains and drove up prices with covid mandates and electric vehicle mandates.
At best, Biden was a hapless buffoon and at worst, he collaborated in destroying lives for profit.
There wasn't a hoax, the companies were demanding it. Because like it or not, global pandemics are dangerous particularly in our global system.
Stop this nonsensical conspiracy theorist bullocks. The world got too comfy, since modern medicine really culled epidemics that hazard economies
All it showed is how fragile US hegemony actually is and how this economical system doesn't bring stability.
Also, you're talking as if the alternative is any different. The biggest hit on US economy will be the AI bubble bursting in the mid term. And Trump signed 200 billion dollar deal to inflate that bubble for profit.
US government, it's entire system is about fucking people over for profit. It has naught to do with Biden or Trump. Trump just wants to roughshoulder everyone using US power projection whilst Biden, well Biden was shaking hands with spirits.
Arrogance and hubris appears always before they fall. Its usual cope mechanic.
More than half of restaurants are lead by people who have zero knowledge about gastronomy. They won't survive a consume decrease no matter if you tip 0% or 50%.
I learned a lot of cooking on TV show of a guy who has several very successful restaurants.
He said: "I recognize a good restaurant instantly if I enter their kitchen. If there are 3 huge pots with different types of broth and an employee who takes care that those pots get never empty. I know this is a real restaurant where people cook."
Well, I'm a dentist and zero clue about gastronomy but half of restaurants I visited last two years serve just heated up industrial convenience food made for catering and cantinas... and it's crap.
I'm going to run with this part of your post: "... Well, I'm a dentist and zero clue about gastronomy but... " This means, to me, that you don't understand what goes into food preparation on a commercial basis. That's ok, most people don't. But the vast majority of people assume that you MUST have great food to have a money making restaurant, and that's not true either. There are a LOT of components that go into being a successful restaurant, and great food is important, but depending on the setting, it doesn't guarantee success.
The message posted reflects the situation in the USA that is worsening being of costs for the restauranteur and disposable income for the customer. It's ALWAYS been a tipping culture in the USA because the ENTIRE culture of the USA is based on profit taking. It's a bad system.
If today's restaurants paid their servers and employees $20-$30 an hour and tipping wasn't a thing, all costs of operation would have to be slashed to stay in business. That includes not just food costs, but rent, utilities, insurance, taxes and any other assorted labor. It's not going to happen in the USA ever again.
So I agree the sign is nasty and just alienates those who CAN afford to eat out, but there's some truth to it. When you consider eating out in a full service US restaurant, 20 per cent additional should be part of your equation. If you don't like the total number after you do the math, don't eat out and don't decide you'll eat out anyway and stiff your server just the same. More and more restaurants will fold as fewer and fewer people have less and less disposable income.
I go out to eat maybe once a month. Most restaurants are empty except for a few local ones popular around town. I intend to tip (what I consider an appropriate amount not what they tell me to tip) but if any restaurant had a sign like this, they can kindly fuck off. It's not my job to pay their workers' salaries, that's all on them.
The restaurant industry in the US isn't dead, but it has evolved. Rising costs and economic challenges have influenced pricing, yet there's still a treasure trove of amazing dining gems waiting to be discovered. 🌟 While some places may disappoint, others offer incredible culinary experiences worth the outing. Cooking at home provides its own kind of magic, sparking creativity and comfort. However, the joy of discovering unique flavors in new settings keeps the spirit of dining out alive. It's all about finding the right balance that suits your taste and expectations. 🍽ď¸
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37Opinion
Here's the problem that most people who don't work in the industry don't understand: governments (not so much Federal, but state and local) keep piling on taxes that directly or indirectly impact restaurants, and so the costs of running a restaurant have skyrocketed. The government at the Federal level massively harmed the farming industry during the Biden/COVID period (many crops have pricing set by the federal government, and many farmers were forced to destroy healthy crops or livestock based on the "fear" of diseases that mostly affected huge corporate farms). This has resulted in huge increases in food costs. Then you've had many states increase the minimum wage and reduce the people who could be paid minimum wage.
Power bills have gone up because utilities are charging ratepayers huge increases to pay for expansions needed for AI and other datacenters, which use massive amounts of electricity. In many areas, gas ovens, stoves, and other equipment has been required to be replaced as cooking with gas is banned for environmental reasons.
Finally, real estate has gone up in most places significantly, which means landlords are demanding big increases in rent.
If you owned a restaurant and your costs had gone up 40-60% over the last 5 years, you'd be struggling to keep from increasing menu prices by the same amount, because people simply can't afford it - but that does mean cutting some corners and reducing freebees compared to the past. You might be okay raising prices that high if you cater to the very high-end customer, but most restaurants rely on high volume from the middle class, and so those that can't stay affordable to the middle class somehow will simply go bankrupt if they aren't able to cut their ever-increasing costs (which, again, are mostly due to government fees and taxations on many, many levels).
I never ever understand this nonsensical tipping culture in US. And people actually agree with it. Americans I've been friends with actually argue for it "Oh but they'll serve you better if you tip" and what's the supposed better service? Your food coming at you 2 minutes earlier. Or a waitress talking to you more.
Restaurant owners literally work young people for too little money, and expect customers to pay them. And the idea of having a full time job with not a specific amount of proper wage guarantee is insane! Fucking if you don't have money to pay your employees, don't run a business!
Restaurants are charging what they have to to survive. The cost of food and supplies skyrocketed during the Biden/Harris administration. Restauranteurs have to pass those higher costs on to customers or they will lose money and go out of business.
As far as tips, people are so ignorant about how tipping works in restaurants. You can either have tipping, in which case you have CONTROL over how much you pay the server, or you can get rid of tipping and the tip amount will be included in the price on the menu.
In one scenario you get to NOT pay 20% to the server if they are an asshole or do a shitty job. In the other scenario you have to pay the server the 20% no matter how bad their service or attitude is.
Can you guess which is the smarter option for consumers?
My response to a sign like the picture is "Dear moronic restauranteur, if you can't afford to pay your staff a living wage without tips you don't deserve my patronage."
No server is entitled to a gratuity. A gratuity for excellent service is exactly that - a gift over the billed total given specifically to the server for excellent service. If they just do the bare minimum then their wage is all they get.
I tip based on the quality of service I receive. What a restaurant owner pays their staff is between them. Give me shit service or go above and beyond and it'll be reflected in the extra I CHOOSE to give. It won't be dictated to me by an ignorant business owner gouging their employees' wages
Itâs funny the people who complain about not getting tippedâŚ. Are bad servers. Thatâs it. Bad service equals low to no tips.
Yeah, even if youâre the best. Youâre gonna get snubbed. Grow upâŚ. Move on. But if youâre persistently snubbed. Check yourself. Itâs probably a YOU ISSUE because most servers are getting tips.
Inflation killed it. Eating out got more expensive, but more importantly, everything else also got more expensive, including essentials like rent and energy, so people can't afford luxuries like eating out all the time. It's the same outside the US, and has nothing to do with covid.
I don't see restaurants closing in Florida. In general things are growing rapidly here. That said, Democrats sabotaged their own economies to oppress their voters in blue cities so that they would become dependent on the government. That was part of their play to manipulate the populous into adopting socialism and giving the government total power.
I personally think so. I find the younger generation to be more demanding on tips yet does a half a** job at best. Call me old school if you want but I tip by the service I receive. If I get sh*t service the tip will be less then desirable. I agree with you on prices for going out to eat are ridicule and the food isn't nearly as good as it used to be. If you do eat out give your money to a mom & papa restaurant their a lot more enjoyable to eat at.
@XXblack88
I enjoy âMom & Papaâ restaurants also!
On the high end it's never been better. I don't eat at places like "Stew's Kitchen," and I don't eat at places that have mandatory tipping or service charges or healthcare fees or any of that nonsense. Charge what you charge for food that is worth it and I will tip generously if the service is good.
The US restaurant industry is not dead but, it is reeling from constant punches to the head and gut. 5 years ago it was tRump's mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic. Today it's tRumps destruction of the entire economy with stupid Fascist economic policies that are driving inflation, killing jobs, and driving businesses to bankruptcy to make billionaires richer.
I eat at 3 or 4 local places. We have been going there so long that the staff knows us by name. Th food is good, the prices are reasonable and they are clean, well lighted places as Hemmingway would say.
Personally I like cooking my own food because I can control what is going in it and it is less expensive. I do go out to eat sometimes, restaurants are typically too expensive tho and then youâre expected to tip on top of that.
What killed the restaurant industry, at least in terms of dining in, is the unquenchable thirst of people who want every single thing they purchase to be brought to their door, because they can't get their fat, lazy asses up off the couch.
@gwendoline That has not been my experience here in California. I find quite it somewhat the opposite. The restaurants and coffee houses I go to prepare excellent food, BUT in some cases, the prices are higher than I would expect. The higher prices are in those places that are 'new-start-up" restaurants or in my case - a coffee shop where the food is 'to die for' but the prices are a little bit high
Too expensive now and you get bombarded with pressure from servers to order drinks/upgrade to more pricey options/larger portions etc,,,
Servers don't get paid very much I know but when eating out I want to chat with my friend not them,,,
And the music is usually annoying/too loud,,,
Thank you for inviting to comment on this but I live in an area that doesn't really have any real restaurants. A couple bar/restaurant type places but the emphasis is much more on the bar. 🤣
@RandomGirl42
Sounds like my neighborhood đŻđ bars and nightclubs with food buffet
i'm a member of the stop tipping community. the industry is very much alive but it is having issues. the overall problem is inflation and restaurants who rely on tipping to pay their staff.
That message at the end😂 and the "valued customers"😂
Restaurant culture isn't, but fast food culture has significantly dwindled, except "Little Cesars", at least where I live.
Hah, restaurants like that don't stay in business long around here. I thought you were in England?
Born in Ireland. Grew up partly in Scotland and England. Live in America now.
Tipping in the US is retarded. In Europe, and everywhere else I think, we tip for an exceptional service.
Making my food right and bring it to me, and not being an asshole isn't exceptional, it's their job.
You want to get more from me? Go beyond. Do more than just your job. The tip is the reward for it.
It's difficult for restaurants to find help and covid didn't help. I have a few friends with restaurants in NYC and they all got hurt pretty badly from covid. They are just starting to get some more foot traffic.
The US Restaurant Industry is not dead, far from it.
If you're complaining about tips, please consider this. In my area (Southeast US), restaurant workers get paid $2.83 an hour. They rely on tips to have a reasonable income.
20% tip is what is killing it. Online orders is way more affordable.
All we really have left by me is very few of what we would call a family restaurant and then there's Denny's and that's just a chain
It's expensive, food quality and portions have gotten worse for the increased cost, inflation is high and tipping culture only makes it more stressful.
because nobody is going out and dating anymore
restaurants losing money isn't because of economics, it's a cultural problem
Large corporations that never lower their prices back down after inflation
A lot of restaurants are being priced out of business.
Just visit Asian places while in US.
Better food and they don't ask you to tip.
Costs increased faster than their customer's income.
I think greedy restaurant owners who are trying to offload the burden of paying for the staff to the customer.
Yes for a couple years. Inflation killed it. They have trash profit margins.
Like I would ever eat there , I would flash them my cash and eat somewhere else.
I can't afford to eat out really... I'm a broke college guy
I tip when I go to a restaurant because I make my money from tips also
Iâve seen places crazy busy. It just depends on location
Women racking up the bill and leaving men with no second date.
Yeah thanks Joe biden
All the restaurants I go to are quite busy
Inflation, health trends, delivery apps
Dying due to Deporter Donnie !!!
Think they were dying before that.
Trump's hastening the process.
Corona killed everything.
alive and well
They want sugar daddies
Covid 19
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