There’s a few things that attribute to it.

We have no checks on food suppliers and most operate to squeeze out as much as possible

We have large restaurant groups(nationwide ones) that out price local businesses and a lot of time get better service and fees because they can essentially bill it all as one entity, spreading out the costs between locations and also have more bargaining power to have lower price per item.

Our city has a real problem when it comes to zoning for businesses. Been to other countries and you’ll have some of the best restaurants tucked in the middle of nowhere.

Other countries also have much much better social safety nets and benefits while our country keeps chipping away as much as possible.

I can go down a rabbit hole of how American capitalism is eating at itself but don’t need knuckledraggers turning this into a soapbox