It's not clear to me what the core issue is here. A lot of people say "it's too expensive for what you get" which feels true, but I experience sticker shock wi

It's not clear to me what the core issue is here. A lot of people say "it's too expensive for what you get" which feels true, but I experience sticker shock with all fast food these days. My last few meals on GrubHub (I live in SF): - 2x Double Cheeseburgers from Calibur: $39.90 - 2x Super Burrito from local Mexican restaurant: $41.24 - General's Chicken, Mongolian Beef, Rice, and Cream Cheese Wontons from local Chinese restaurant: $60.34 - Chicken Cashew Nut, Pananag Curry, Rice from local Thai: $48.14 So like... it's all extreme these days? $40 for two cheeseburgers makes Subway seem tame in comparison. It could very well be the quality of their ingredients. They did revise their menu/ingredients in 2021, https://newsroom.subway.com/2021-07-06-Subway-Debuts-Largest-Menu-Update-in-Brands-History https://newsroom.subway.com/2021-07-06-Subway-Debuts-Largest... but I didn't hear any big backlash regarding that so I assumed it was reasonably well received. I'm not especially convinced by this argument because I would expect cheaper ingredients to translate to cheaper costs and to allow them to capitalize on a slightly different market. I know Subway has a long history of encouraging too high density of franchises, no source though. Is this just a continuation of that problem? Maybe higher density makes them perform even worse in the new, delivery-first market? Or maybe it's a failure to simply adapt to the delivery-first market? I know I don't order that many sandwiches because I default to thinking, "I can make a sandwich at home pretty easily" where I don't feel similarly about hot/cooked food delivery. It could also just be the media blowing Subway out of proportion? A lot of the market is starting to show cracks and there were a few warning signs of recession recently. McDonalds reported weakening sales recently, too (https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/mcdonalds-set-weak-sales-growth-us-fast-food-chains-grapple-with-muted-traffic-2024-04-29/ https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/mcdonalds-s...) Is the problem not related to Subway at all? Are consumers just tightening their purse strings?