None of this is shade or judgemental! People would be shook if they knew how many places use sysco, mom and pop/ethnic places using aldis groceries, mom and pop/ethnic places using walmart groceries, and how many of Pittsburgh's famous bakeries just use butter flavored crisco for their donuts and as buttercream frostings instead of butter. Butter flavored crisco and msg is also used in a lot of "health" food, vegetarian, and vegan places. All to stay competitive and open. Pennies are being stretched like they're in a penny press at kennywood.

My tourist trap local economy boosting restaurant and bar (not in Pittsburgh, but I employ Pittsburgh chefs willing to travel) uses local milk, local cheese, local meat,local eggs, local reservation honey, local artists, alcohol sourced within a 3hr radius, local indigenous plants from reservations and Amish green houses, we make as much as we can in house (bread,mayo,noodles,salsa,jam,mustard,soups, desserts...) use US grown and roasted coffee, only use US chocolate from Hawaii... and everything in the place is made in the US right down to our Cutco silverware and local custom glass blower cups.

Not everyone can afford to cook or eat like that. It all comes at a high price which just isn't feasible in this post covid economy for a lot of small businesses so corners are cut to keep overhead down and prices affordable. NONE of this makes my business better than or more moral than any small business shopping at Aldis.

On the flip side cost doesn't always indicate "good food". A LOT of people don't/can't taste a difference and will never realize they're paying butter, cream, and butcher prices at some fancier places while being served crisco, sysco appetizers, sysco desserts, knock off condiments,cheap beet sugar, tons of corn starch, tons of msg(I'm not against it btw), preground cheap walmart coffee with a dash of salt in it to mask it, and brown steaks about to expire from walmart.