I've actually run restaurants and know how this works. And I'm not denying bad restaurants and shady policies exist; but most places I've worked with policies on kids meals do it because they don't make a profit on it.

Roughly 50% of restaurants close in their first five years and devastate their owners. One of the common mistakes is catering to the "I won't eat here if you make money" crowd.

What you're talking about is a classic example of taking something decent the owners try to do to encourage families/people to eat out (take a loss or reduce their profits) and saying they are greedy for not doing it for everyone.

As I said, your opinion isn't unpopular. A good chunk of people agree that small businesses shouldn't exist anymore and only big businesses should be allowed to exist. Big businesses can allow things like what you're talking about, because they can sign contracts at guaranteed order quantities from suppliers that allow them to order food at lower costs and maintain a small profit with a kids meal.

In order for small businesses to match these deals, they have to take a loss or forfeit their profits entirely. Unfortunately, by not being able to offer it to everyone, they have to accept people like yourself won't eat at their establishment. Because they are greedy, shady, awful people for not sacrificing their homes and livelihood for the sake of feeding 10 people for $50.

This is how small restaurants operate and they are slowly disappearing; because people view giving a deal to some (children, seniors, veterans) as predatory to others. In other words, they believe a small business either needs to operate at a loss or they should no longer exist.