Comment by Zenzero
2 years ago
You're spot on. I haven't been to any sort of Red Lobster owned property in years. The last time I went to Olive garden it was completely transparent how the microwaved Sysco food is the norm now. I sat there thinking how AI could have just bought the same thing from the frozen aisle at half the price and not had to deal with sitting in a dirty Olive garden.
It’s not limited to these big chains at all — the vast, vast majority of restaurants in the States are at the mercy of Sysco. The restaurant industry is absolutely brutal right now. They are barely profitable and the best restaurants survive from underpaid family labor or under-the-table undocumented immigrants. Rent costs are insanely high, labor isn’t there and is bottom of the barrel, and non Sysco food costs too much. The average person still expects a $8 burger and fries when the cost to make it is $10 minimum.
The whole industry is on the verge of collapse, and we’ve had a ton of restaurant closures over in my neck of the woods since Covid. These aren’t Red Lobsters closing but beloved local places.
Anyone that has worked food in the last couple years knows how bad it really is.
To be fair, Sysco can provide a lot of different levels of food. Yes, they're most associated in the public eye with the microwaved and boiled examples. But they can also deliver many fresh ingredients or just staples like rice or flour.
What are Sysco alternatives for sourcing?
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I believe it. It seems to be a natural consequence of the wealth imbalance in the US. There is an obscene amount of money looking to be placed at the top, but nowhere great to put it. At the bottom all of the industries that relied on disposable income are struggling. The bottom will continue to fall out piece by piece until we reach a new equilibrium.
There are frozen bags of heat-in-a-pan Italian dishes in the grocery store that cost half what Olive Garden does (so, the slightly-fancy frozen meals—there are even cheaper ones) and also taste quite a bit better (though still not great).
They used to at least be better than high-side-of-mid-tier frozen grocery store meals. Not anymore. Their continued existence confuses me.
Bertolli?
Heh, yeah, pretty much. Been better than Olive Garden for a decade or more, and cheaper.
I guess people just like the breadsticks that much (it is, admittedly, a lot more work to replicate those at home than the dump-frozen-bag-in-a-frying-pan process for beating most of their main dishes at home)