4 ms·

I'm afraid I can't find the graph, but I saw something showing that food service revenue has fully rebounded since the pandemic while food service employment ha

I'm afraid I can't find the graph, but I saw something showing that food service revenue has fully rebounded since the pandemic while food service employment has not. That would imply that labor saving is already in effect. It would also be unsurprising that not every restaurant would handle it equally well.

MattGaiser 5y ago
Or they could just have raised prices.
- n8cpdx 5y ago
  All of the local restaurants have raised prices. I've overheard a few restaurant owners talking and it seems customers don't like even small price increases. They also indicate the price increases are necessary for supply costs even as they raise wages and can't fill positions. A lot of restaurants are just cutting menus/services to be able to stay on top of demand. This strikes me as hugely economically inefficient, but whatever they don't have much choice in the matter. People on HN like to say "just raise wages" but I don't think they like to consider what a world without affordable restaurants looks like. Maybe that is the way to go, but there should be more acknowledgement that "pay every cook like a software engineer" means there will be far fewer restaurants and far fewer people employed as cooks.
  - rland 5y ago
    To me, if 50% of restaurants close tomorrow, fine. There are people who dine out 3, 4, 5 times a week, who don't really know how to cook anything beyond microwaved meals... that's completely insane! And I think that's kind of what all of this hysteria is about. Because yeah, if the price of a burrito went up by $2-3, those people would have to learn how to cook some basic meals for themselves. Not so long ago, dining out -- having another human being cook & bring you your food -- was a luxury, reserved for special events. This is something completely different.
    - warkdarrior 5y ago
      > There are people who dine out 3, 4, 5 times a week, who don't really know how to cook anything beyond microwaved meals... that's completely insane! I am not sure we have to be judgemental about other people's cooking skills to decide that restaurant workers deserve better pay. Everyone has some expertise, and some people choose to not learn how to cook, and that is ok.
      - rland 5y ago
        My point is that the state of not even knowing how to cook and expecting to eat cheaply at a restaurant every night -- at every point in history besides the last 20 years or so that notion would be absurd. I do feel that I can judge people for that, because other people work like dogs to cook their meals for them at below poverty wages. I'm judging, and I'm also raising the point that the current state of affairs is the absurd one. Not a possible future state of affairs where restaurants are again a luxury and people have to cook meals at home.
        fleddr 5y ago
        Reminds me of that Google employee that was complaining how during the pandemic, Starbucks was too far away from his apartment he was now forced to work from. This guy, in his thirties and likely a brilliant engineer, just had no idea how to make himself anything, nor would he have the equipment or supplies for it. A total man-child, spoiled through and through. I'm from Europe, and once visited Texas. I was shocked by how absurdly cheap it is to eat out. And not just the low prices, also the abundance of restaurants. We were on a highway and saw a sign "next 3 exits: food exits". What!? We tried a low tier option, a pizza joint. Upon entering, you pay 3$. Then it's all you can eat, as you walk past pizza slices having any topping you'd like, and you can just keep loading up. At the end, there's a soda machine with unlimited refills. And the pizza was actually pretty good. I still just can't believe it. Does not compute. I'm not talking "thin margins", I'm talking...how the hell is this even remotely possible at all? In property, actual food cost, staff, taxes, the like? This would be 5-10 times more expensive where I live. A single glass of soda would cost more, and you'd get no refills. At such absurd prices, I can totally imagine the culture developing where nobody cooks anymore.
  - lordnacho 5y ago
    The thing that might happen is that restaurants become unrecognizable. For instance if it all turns into dark kitchens on delivery sites. (Dark kitchen: restaurant without a traditional storefront that sells exclusively through a portal like Deliveroo).
qudat 5y ago
Some of my favorite dine-in restaurants are still pickup only. I think they realized that they can make just as much money doing take out and a lot less people management now that there are no severs

MattGaiser 5y ago

Or they could just have raised prices.

n8cpdx 5y ago
All of the local restaurants have raised prices. I've overheard a few restaurant owners talking and it seems customers don't like even small price increases. They also indicate the price increases are necessary for supply costs even as they raise wages and can't fill positions. A lot of restaurants are just cutting menus/services to be able to stay on top of demand. This strikes me as hugely economically inefficient, but whatever they don't have much choice in the matter. People on HN like to say "just raise wages" but I don't think they like to consider what a world without affordable restaurants looks like. Maybe that is the way to go, but there should be more acknowledgement that "pay every cook like a software engineer" means there will be far fewer restaurants and far fewer people employed as cooks.
- rland 5y ago
  To me, if 50% of restaurants close tomorrow, fine. There are people who dine out 3, 4, 5 times a week, who don't really know how to cook anything beyond microwaved meals... that's completely insane! And I think that's kind of what all of this hysteria is about. Because yeah, if the price of a burrito went up by $2-3, those people would have to learn how to cook some basic meals for themselves. Not so long ago, dining out -- having another human being cook & bring you your food -- was a luxury, reserved for special events. This is something completely different.
  - warkdarrior 5y ago
    > There are people who dine out 3, 4, 5 times a week, who don't really know how to cook anything beyond microwaved meals... that's completely insane! I am not sure we have to be judgemental about other people's cooking skills to decide that restaurant workers deserve better pay. Everyone has some expertise, and some people choose to not learn how to cook, and that is ok.
    - rland 5y ago
      My point is that the state of not even knowing how to cook and expecting to eat cheaply at a restaurant every night -- at every point in history besides the last 20 years or so that notion would be absurd. I do feel that I can judge people for that, because other people work like dogs to cook their meals for them at below poverty wages. I'm judging, and I'm also raising the point that the current state of affairs is the absurd one. Not a possible future state of affairs where restaurants are again a luxury and people have to cook meals at home.
      - fleddr 5y ago
        Reminds me of that Google employee that was complaining how during the pandemic, Starbucks was too far away from his apartment he was now forced to work from. This guy, in his thirties and likely a brilliant engineer, just had no idea how to make himself anything, nor would he have the equipment or supplies for it. A total man-child, spoiled through and through. I'm from Europe, and once visited Texas. I was shocked by how absurdly cheap it is to eat out. And not just the low prices, also the abundance of restaurants. We were on a highway and saw a sign "next 3 exits: food exits". What!? We tried a low tier option, a pizza joint. Upon entering, you pay 3$. Then it's all you can eat, as you walk past pizza slices having any topping you'd like, and you can just keep loading up. At the end, there's a soda machine with unlimited refills. And the pizza was actually pretty good. I still just can't believe it. Does not compute. I'm not talking "thin margins", I'm talking...how the hell is this even remotely possible at all? In property, actual food cost, staff, taxes, the like? This would be 5-10 times more expensive where I live. A single glass of soda would cost more, and you'd get no refills. At such absurd prices, I can totally imagine the culture developing where nobody cooks anymore.
- lordnacho 5y ago
  The thing that might happen is that restaurants become unrecognizable. For instance if it all turns into dark kitchens on delivery sites. (Dark kitchen: restaurant without a traditional storefront that sells exclusively through a portal like Deliveroo).

qudat 5y ago

Some of my favorite dine-in restaurants are still pickup only. I think they realized that they can make just as much money doing take out and a lot less people management now that there are no severs