Are We in a Restaurant Bubble?

We’ve all felt it.

Whether it’s a nice evening out with a few friends, or a quick meal at a fast-food restaurant, it can be shocking to see the total at the bottom of the bill. It seems like eating out is a different (and costlier) experience than pre-pandemic, but if you’re like most people, you don’t keep a detailed log of the prices, so it can be hard to know for sure. Inflation has been high the past few years, but still something seems off.

A recent post on X, where a father of four young kids complained about the untenable price of eating out, went viral, eliciting strong reactions, comments, and agreement. He mentions that eating at Panera cost him $73, a local grill was $78, and even IHOP rang in at over $60 for a low quantity of non-specialty food. So, we decided to do a quick, unscientific survey of our own where we spoke to readers from 12 different states across the country to hear what they think about the cost of eating out in 2023 and how they feel about the experience. Here’s a sampling of what we found:

Do you feel that the cost of eating out right now is generally a good value, about what you would expect, or not a good value?

In all, every person we spoke to felt that eating out was not a good value, with the exception of one man in Texas, single and in his early twenties, who said that it was a good value to him – but only because it allowed him to spend more time on sales. He was quick to acknowledge that his usual lunchtime order had recently increased 50%. The only other respondent who felt that eating out was a good value was a young married couple in Seattle, Washington, who do not yet have kids, and they emphasized the fact that Seattle has a lot of very high quality restaurants that make the experience worth the cost. Everyone else was quick to say, “Not a good value.”

In general, the people we spoke to have reduced the amount of times they eat out per week, largely due to cost, but there were other factors driving that behavior as well…

Google lost its landmark antitrust case brought by Epic Games this past week, which alleges profiteering against app developers, in a verdict that took just a few hours to arrive. Google plans to appeal the decision, but for the meantime, they have been labeled a monopoly, and that may have implications for Apple, who has faced Epic Games in a lawsuit of their own, and is also facing similar antitrust suits abroad…

The price of sugar is down again as global supplies improve, after production shortages in India and elsewhere drove prices sky high last month. Oil markets remain skeptical of OPEC’s promises to reduce supply as crude oil futures marked their seventh consecutive week of price falls. Gold continues to decline after hitting record highs just a week and a half ago…

Giving Tuesday saw a 10% decline in the number of donors compared with last year, and total contributions totaling $3.1 billion – less than once percent greater than 2022 (marking an actual decrease when adjusting for inflation). Prior to the big day, it was predicted that $3.45 billion would be raised or more. This is, perhaps, unsurprising, as charitable giving has been trending downward since its peak during the pandemic years and their stimulus checks…

Your weekly chance to test your Bible knowledge! The answer to today’s question may surprise you:

Q: What does the word “Bible” mean?

Answer at the bottom

TIPS & TRICKS

Leadership advice from the King Solomon

It’s no secret that the Book of Proverbs contains bite-sized wisdom that packs a punch on various topics relating to life, faith, and work. But though most of us would agree that Proverbs is a good place to start when looking for general principles about how to run our businesses or organizations in a godly way, far too often the time to study gets away from us. It’s worth spending a few minutes, however, pondering a relevant proverb and considering how it can be instructive for our lives, leadership, and legacy, no matter how busy we are.

Today, we want look at a few illuminative concepts in the Book of Proverbs…

• Puerto Rican superstar rapper Daddy Yankee announces his retirement from music so that he can devote his life to following Jesus.

• Office Christmas parties scale back this year, given the state of the economy and shifting employee priorities.

• The Wall Street Journal says that buying a house just doesn’t make sense right now, and brings the data to prove it.

• A federal judge has ruled that World Vision’s policy that marriage is between one man and one woman is unlawful discrimination under Title VII.

• Scott Klusendorf offers a strategy for pro-life messaging in the state by state debate.

• Annualized inflation came in at 3.1% for November.