09/28/2026
Why is eating out so expensive?
It’s a fair question. And as restaurant owners, we hear it all the time.
Most people understandably think the price of a meal is basically food + labor + a little profit.
We wish. 😂
This picture is a pretty good example of the part of running a restaurant nobody sees. These are Toast handhelds we use to take orders and serve our guests. They’re broken, failing, or need to be replaced. And replacing equipment like this is just another Tuesday in the restaurant business.
Then there’s everything else you never see on your plate:
Credit-card processing fees.
POS software and subscriptions.
Broken refrigeration and kitchen equipment.
HVAC repairs.
Plumbing and electrical repairs.
Dishwasher chemicals and cleaning supplies.
To-go containers, bags, napkins and silverware.
Insurance.
Licenses and permits.
Trash and grease removal.
Pest control.
Laundry and linen service.
Internet, phones and music licensing.
Accounting, payroll and software fees.
Advertising and marketing.
And the never-ending replacement of glasses, plates, silverware, smallwares and equipment.
Oh—and the building still needs electricity, gas, water, heat and air conditioning whether we serve 100 people that day or 500.
None of those things are the chicken parm, stromboli or cocktail sitting in front of you. But every single one of them is part of what it costs to put that meal on the table.
Restaurants aren’t simply buying ingredients for $5 and selling them for $20. We’re operating a small manufacturing facility, retail business, bar, kitchen and hospitality company under one roof—with a whole lot of expensive moving parts behind the scenes.
So when you notice that eating out costs more than it used to, food and wages are certainly part of it. But they’re only part of the story.
Sometimes the story looks like a pile of dead Toast handhelds sitting on the office desk. 😂
And tomorrow it’ll probably be something else.
Food for thought 😉
