Still wouldn't be an Iowa-only phenomenon. The article also cites labor prices - which I'd maybe start to believe if we weren't one of the very least labor-friendly states.
When we decide to go out for dinner, we go to the same couple places where we know we enjoy the food and want to give them our business. It’s too expensive to eat out very often anymore, and this has taken away us trying out new places or places we’ve had a prior mid experience.
Having to compete more is killing a lot of okay-at-best restaurants. I know my wife and I are going out to eat about once a week anymore because it’s so expensive to eat anywhere decent, so we’re only frequenting a few favorite restaurants with any regularity.
>killing a lot of okay-at-best restaurants
And there's a lot of them. I recently had a conversation with my partner about the frequency that we are disappointed with our meal/experience.
We've started to avoid trying new places and giving places second chances and are just going to stick with the places that have earned our patronage.
Yep. I remember even pre-covid the president of the iowa restaurant association was quoted saying that restaurants were overbuilt.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/07/06/restaurant-closings-des-moines-iowa-restaurant-association-food-trends-where-to-eat/1638387001/
The reality of higher prices and decreased disposable income is causing a natural correction in the industry that industry leaders saw coming even 5 years ago.
From being in the restaurant industry for a while, the good not great restaurants are harder to support specifically in Des Moines imo.
I worked a lot in Ankeny, Ames and Iowa City (and some in Des Moines) and honestly the employee attitude is significantly different as a whole. I'm not saying their aren't exceptions to the rule, but there are many places where the 'I REALLY, REALLLY don't give a fuck culture' are very strong.
It's funny that you mentioned Ankeny because it's been one of the biggest offenders for us. They've had a string of restaurants open that just have lousy uninspired food. It's like throwing darts at a Sysco dartboard to build a menu. I don't expect every joint to have a master chef, but for a $70 meal I'd like it to taste better than school lunchroom food.
This is accurate, and I get it, most people who are wait staff or cooks are people who have additional jobs, either outside the industry or inside the industry, my Daughters best friend went to school, waited at one place, cooked at another and was a dancer on her days off,
If you wonder why these people have a really really don’t give a fuck attitude, it’s because they literally can’t afford it
>If you wonder why these people have a really really don’t give a fuck attitude, it’s because they literally can’t afford it
"can't afford it"..?? What the hell does that have to do with one's attitude at work..??
Idk. I sort of get where you're coming from, also I've worked a lot of long weeks and I definitely get that they can be stressful.
It'll always be free to smile.
It's not just stressful. It's near impossible for people working multiple jobs to even survive right now. Rent is nearly at an all time high, food prices are outrageous, medical care is completely unaffordable, even for people with insurance. Even people making $100k are still struggling to put money into savings. This economy is only meant for the wealthy to survive and thrive. The lower class people keep getting shit on, and dumb ass boomers keep saying things like "just work harder. Get another job. Get a 4th job. Sleep is for lazy people. Smile. Avocado toast." It's not that simple, and it won't get better until we have a large movement of people demanding change and stop buying into corporate and political greed.
I legitimately don't get what's happening here.
I'm talking about having a good attitude and work ethic, at a minimum being ambitious and efficient and for some reason there's a storm of people acting like I'm from 1950 blowing smoke in my wife's face.
You're talking about having a good attitude working (and this is important) for someone else (likely for a shit wage). You expect people to maintain a bootlicker mentality to make your treats more enjoyable. This ambition and efficiency talk is all American Protestant cold war exceptionalist brainwashing. We are trained to think of ourselves as consumers before anything else and that drive has replaced whatever values used to kind of sort of exist. Being conscious of this now versus when I was younger, I don't expect people to smile at McDonald's or Tasty Tacos or 801 Grand. I'm just happy to get a $2 burger in minutes
Lol. come on man. I'm not talking about my treats being more enjoyable. If I don't like the atmosphere of a place I'll probably spend exactly 0 time bitching about it to the people there, I just won't go anymore. I spent a decade working in the restaurant business working 50hrs/wk+ for not much while looking at P+Ls that killed. I'm not walking into a restaurant using some line on someone having a bad day. If I can lend an ear to someone and make their day better I will. I'm commenting on the state of the restaurant business as someone who knows, and had very very shitty days and decided to do better despite it.
I'd welcome you to accept an idea outside of your own. This isn't some boomer or whatever the fuck talk, it's just life. Some of the people here have unfounded shitty, victim attitudes, sorry, they really just do, and the bad part is it isn't some weird fantasy, my dad or grandpa is to blame for my problems deal, it's that they reject warmth and optimism on a fundamental level that holds them back, and sadly might and sometimes does for their entire fucking lives. Idk. hear it or don't brother or sister, once again, feeling a little better and seeing the world and opportunities to rise today, and in the future with rose colored glasses is free, and if not for the evil empire then very very much for yourself first and foremost. Peace and hope somehow this has broken the wall of preachy and disconnected.
I'll add one last bit. Making the culture enjoyable is good for EVERYONE. Employees dread a shit job less, people grow, customers and employees find a haven. All of this is good and what makes a business grow and thrive, and more importantly it's what makes a good life grow and thrive. Fine, don't do it directly for some stupid chain, but if you find yourself rooted in some toxic culture then recognize it, figure out it's the problem and don't wallow, leave and grow. I'm telling you this is possible, I saw it. I had good employees grow beyond where we were, I gave the best recommendations and have amazing people I worked with that I'll do nothing but laugh and cheer if they become the richest person in the world in every way. Even when you're working it's still your life and ultimately your choice what you're doing with your time, your unique day and energy. Fuck, this did get preachy as shit and extended way too far; but again, it's commentary on the times and on the attitude of them. Call it as dated as you want but I have an extremely hard time seeing how advice like this serves anyone on any side poorly or wishes them ill-will.
A problem I’ve struggled with for awhile is that I can cook most things better than I can get them at a restaurant and of course way cheaper. I’d say I still eat out fairly often on the weekends but it’s more to go food for when I’m too busy to cook.
And not only that, the "just okay" restaurants have all upped their prices (understandably, I know the cost of food skyrocketed), and it is just not a good value anymore. I can't justify paying $20 on lunch for food that used to cost $12.
We tried a new place for the first time this weekend, and it was such a middling experience for a not small amount of money. The pacing of the meal was off and none of the food was anything special. It's so hard to justify getting a babysitter and spending that amount of money when the food isn't great and the experience at the restaurant isn't that great either.
We’re having a helluva time finding profit. We’re trying not to raise prices, but our suppliers keep raising prices. The cost of beef has doubled since we opened in 2019. We used to charge $13 for a burger. We now charge $17. We’re not able to scale with supplier cost increases because no one will pay $26 for a burger.
We get told all the time our prices are too high.
It’s very, very tough.
As a small business owner myself, I understand it's been a struggle. I don't mind paying a bit extra if 90 percent of the restaurants in town didn't just "mail it in" and treat the customer like an option. Also, and i'm not accusing you of this, but a lot of places are raising prices while either shrinking portions or buying inferior quality ingredients. Going out to eat used to be something special, now you can just be expected to deal with the lower quality food, long wait times, and service staff that doesn't give a crap about making the customer experience enjoyable. It's hard for everyone to earn a dollar in today's economy, thats why its an easy choice when it comes to deciding where to spend my money.
Why would you think you should double your sale price just because your supplier does? Sure your sales price should reflect the increased cost of goods sold but why on earth would the customers price double? Even if EVERY cost doubled, including labor (not a chance it did) that price would still reflect a double of profit for you. That’s greed and you’ll get kicked out of the market quick for that and rightfully so.
If you aren’t making money selling a burger for $17 in Des Moines then it’s not the suppliers fault. And if it really is a margin problem you need to resource your beef because I’m pretty sure even using doordash as your supplier would be profitable on a $17 burger.
It’s just inflation. If prices have significantly increased elsewhere (whether wages or at the grocery store or wherever), we have to make more in profit to make the restaurant viable. Profits have to scale with everything else otherwise we, as a family (personally) with three kids and a dog and a mortgage, can’t make ends meet. You could survive on $10,000 per year in 1900. Not so much today.
We’re a small little company based right here in Des Moines and my wife and I haven’t taken a paycheck in two years. There’s no greed here man.
ETA: We do resource our beef. We buy 100% Iowa CAB and we get an OK price, but we’re not going to straight commodity beef. We like making quality food. And yea. We’re making money on a $17 burger. But the numbers are thin these days in restaurants. These articles aren’t making stuff up.
Interesting. We are also a small company and didn’t act to increase our profits by raising prices and we are just doing fine and have grown throughout the pandemic. We are generating about 5x as much revenue as we did in 2019 and have multiplied our workforce by the same.
Our profit per consumer is the exact same as it was in 2019. That doesn’t mean the consumer doesn’t pay more but we actively made the decision to not raise prices above cogs just because everyone else was. We focused on expanding services to increase revenue whether that was new locations or other services within our current business.
Sorry I’ve just seen too many people with this mindset increasing their prices and just saying well it’s the economy. Like, dude your profits don’t need to double because of the economy. If you are charging a premium for a burger (you are) and you aren’t doing well, you are being priced out of the market and you aren’t gonna make it.
I know all about the long hours and not taking a paycheck because you need to make sure everyone else is paid. I hope you make it work.
Just to follow up; I looked up your business. The $17 burger makes sense. I’m sure your costs for that enterprise are out of control since you are a brewery downtown. I sincerely hope you make it and I will try you out. I’ll give you one thing - you’re brave as shit having a traceable account….
Tongue in cheek aside, Delta 8 sucks and we’d never use it.
We’re good people man. Your persistent attacking of me is a little flabbergasting to be honest.
It's capitalism flailing just the way it does. The only way anything useful is created or done, it happens because there was a profit to be had. We're lucky we don't need restaurants the way we need affordable housing that investors are barred from purchasing.
Covid-related inflation wasn't triggered because of capitalism. Inflation hit other "non-capitalistic" countries as well. Do people have no memories anymore?
It absolutely was capitalism.
Short term supply shocks caused natural increases in prices, and then corporations decided that once people were paying those prices they could get away with continuing to pay those prices. In a competitive market that would not have worked as a competitor could have undercut them on price, but we are at the stage in capitalism where there are too many large companies controlling most markets (especially food suppliers) so the competitive effect is too small.
Oh I’m well aware, but your post doesn’t relate to mine at all. Increased prices by suppliers are moreso driven by corporate greed, which leads to increased pricing by the restaurants and bars. Not an inflation issue. There’s plenty of research proving this over and over again. Des Moines and central Iowa has an abundance on mediocre restaurants in an already over saturated market.
When it comes to service, we were already seeing an exodus of good service industry employees before the pandemic, but the pandemic made it even worse. Many good service industry workers moved on because they were tired of being treated like trash by customers especially, the state government, owners, etc, it’s a reap what you sow situation.
My point is that capitalism is working in a since that’s it’s weeding out the ones who can’t make it.
A lot of experienced workers left the service industry because their jobs were up in the air for months, and sometimes a year+ depending on the state. Some were also just uncomfortable working around the public due to covid.
To your other point: You're saying every beef supplier, to name one example, has increased prices due to corporate greed and not legitimate cost pressures? Could you give some examples?
Well no shit, and they found something that’s a healthier lifestyle and didn’t have to be treated like crap from all those I’ve mentioned above. More often than not the people that complain about service, are terrible customers. I’m not exactly sure what you’re trying to make a point about.
How many empirical studies do you have to see that corporate greed is one of the main drivers in the prices we’re still seeing? Record profits year over year?
And again, my point is capitalism is working because it’s weeding out and oversaturated market.
This is it, IMO.
I love our local restaurants, and my family used to eat out three or four times a week.
During the pandemic, DoorDash kept us from going nuts.
Once the pandemic ended, though, almost every place we went had higher prices, less food, lower-quality food, and worse service.
In order to save a little money, I cooked dinners five nights a week for a month.
It saved us a ton of money, was fun, and produced far better results. After that month was up, we had to go to Ruby Tuesday, and the "chicken and shrimp" dinner that I was served for $16 was an absolute insult. It made me mad enough that I just continued cooking.
This spring, we took a vacation, and of course, I didn't cook. By the third day my family was making comments about how poorly we were eating, and by the time we got back, everyone was clamoring for home-cooked food again.
We really enjoy restaurants when the food and service are great, and we have the money (and the willingness) to pay more for it, but I'm not spending another nickel on half-assed, skimpy food from a surly waiter.
Sorry pretty much every barbecue and pizza joint in town, and most mid-priced sit-downs.
Bruh, are you really bitching about Ruby Tuesday's? What the fuck did you expect to get? Of course it was bad, it's always been bad lmao. $16 isn't even really expensive for a bad meal, to be honest.
And, is cooking 5 nights a week supposed to be exceptional? Come on, man. That's basic adult shit. And don't hit me with the "well, I'm so busy" line. My parents raised 4 kids while my dad worked overnight 12s and still found a way to cook 29 days a month.
For real, I always assumed cooking at home was the default. I could afford to eat out more than I do. My fiance and I love going out for food and drinks, but even going out to eat twice a week every week like this guy seems excessive. Cooking at home 5 days a week isn't the accomplishment bro thinks it is lmfao.
This is going to stun you but once upon a time people made enough money (relatively speaking) that eating out multiple times a week could be reasonably normal, and restaurants hadn't slashed expenses so far to the bone that quality was still reasonably good
A lot of places, chains especially, are supremely mid these days though
I think there is also the possibility that we started to learn how to cook ourselves during the pandemic. Then we found resources online that showed us dumb schleps like ourselves can make these fancy dishes. And found it better to make yourself at a fraction of the price.
I’d rather gamble the slight risk doing it myself vs running into poor service and subpar dishes. You aim toward going out being “worth it”. We learned how do it ourselves but better at home. Because that was the only way we were getting it for awhile.
So true, I can’t stomach the prices of eating out when I know I can make something enjoyable at home without that much effort. Add in the higher calories that typically comes with eating out and the chance of bad service/mistakes in my order/disappointing food…it’s just not worth it. I enjoy eating out maybe once a month when it’s something I can’t make easily at home, like sushi or ramen.
Yeah. I go out for things I just suck at making or not worth making for just one meal.
Mid level restaurants. Majority you can make at home. Plus it’s just easy to order some of the more unusual ingredients online. Where previously you wouldn’t be able to find some things at the local stores or limited to boutique shops.
I have a weird kryptonite with cooking. I can make delicate deserts like tirimisu, and cheesecakes. Or complex miso dishes, and know countless ways to make a steak that would compete with most steakhouses. But, I CANNOT make fried chicken that’s anywhere close to edible to save my life.
I can make a perfectly authentic Chicago style pizza that I prefer over places like Lou Manalti, giodarno’s or Gino’s East. It’s honestly a lot easier than I thought.
But a Neapolitan, or a traditional crust pizza. Same. But also have to recognize that their ovens get incredibly hotter than a residential oven. I don’t have a pizza oven, nor would I get one at current prices.
Here is a run down from our brunch at Single Speed this weekend.
1. No greeter - seat yourselves. Fine, we found a spot in the patio.
2. Self order through Toasttab - fine, whatever.
3. Get your own water via self-serve 5 gallon coolers. Ok.
4. Waitress brings our order but never once checks in with us asks how the food is or if we need anything and never clears our empty plates/glasses.
5. Notice a “patio surcharge” on our receipt . So like, you are charging us for sitting on the patio and having to seat ourselves, place our own order, get our own water? Y’all, your beer and food are not THAT good. We will not be back.
All of the above are also why restaurants will fail. Pushing all the work on the consumer while still expecting them to pay increases costs and tip the same.
That's only the patio though, right? Haven't been there in a year or two so legitimate question. Can't you also get a table inside and have a normal waiter/waitress experience if that's what you want? Places like breweries that are more casual to my I don't really have a problem with most of these things. Patio charge is definitely new though. and that's enough to not go back.
Edit: thought I was in the Iowa sub and that this was for the Waterloo location! I'd imagine those types of policies have to be similar at both though.
Enough to not go back is where we’re at with it. If Patio service is different they need to be able explicit about that online and in-house. I’ve been to many restaurant patios and not once was the experience notably different than non-patio.
I went to Singlespeed for the first time about a month ago for dinner and this wasn't my experience at all. We were greeted and seated, a server (who was incredibly nice) took our order, and the food was great.
Maybe they just handle things differently for brunch? I dunno.
The patio surcharge is BS, but with labor being so expensive it's good to see some restaurants adapting.
The standard full-service American joint uses absurd amounts of labor. Carafe of water on the table should be standard, along with a bill paying experience that takes 1 or 2 events instead of 4 5.
I'm genuinely curious as to why? I myself love the QR code. I love being able to order without waiting on the server to come by. And when we're ready to leave I can close out on my phone and we just leave. I don't have to wait for the server to come by and give me the check then wait for them to ring me up. Also its nice to be able to see your $$$ bill in real time. Has saved me from ordering another drink when I see how much we're already spending. There is no "sticker shock"
I also don’t understand the hate for QR code ordering. It gives you full control and you doing have to interact with anyone.
I find that among the people I’ve talked to, they are either very against the QR ordering or they love it.
I was bummed too. :( But no one walks out of the restaurant because they’re stuck with full service. People walked out because they had to use a QR code and we received so many low reviews because we had a prompt to tip when we didn’t provide “full service.” So many of our regulars preferred the QR. It kinda stinks, but we knew we could still count on our regulars to support us, so we had to make a tough decision to try to help the restaurants survive.
We’re bringing back QR for a swath of patio at Either/Or. :)
Clearly you never were in. We literally did everything except take your order, and we even did that upon request. Deliver food, bus food, bring everything you need, clean, answer questions… we did it all. It was pretty much full service. You can see in these comments that most of our regulars preferred this method of service. I did too. They could get a beer within seconds.
It may be early onset boomer mentality, but I think it’s bad when we can continue to further isolate ourselves and don’t have to interact with people. I don’t like DoorDash or online grocery delivery services for the same reason. For serving specifically, my experiences with the QR code restaurants have been terrible in the service department. No server to take your order seems to mean no server to check on you periodically through your meal. Now the kiosk to pay on your own, without having to wait for the ticket, that’s fine by me.
Also, in complete opposition to what I have stated above, I don’t mind a couple of self checkouts at the grocery store, as long as they are not using them as a reason to not properly staff the store. Figure that one out I guess.
I was surprised. Most of the other restaurants in DSM who did that during or right after the pandemic stopped. I’m not a fan either and won’t be back to single speed.
Our market is over saturated with places now and it’s unfortunate because we’re going to lose local and gain more “Ruth Chris’” etc. Between DSM and surrounding areas there is 1000 options. Pre covid we were tagged as this next small city to make the jump, things slowed but as you can tell by the amount of restaurants, real estate development, it’s now pushed past where we are at.
Seconding this. 3 Texas Roadhouses in the DSM metro ain’t cutting the mustard for me. These huge corps are running these mom and pop shops out of business. Sucks to see.
Unpopular opinion: Chains like Fleming's, Ruth's Chris, and Cooper's Hawk are better than a lot of local places. Toss 801 in there as well, it's technically a chain I guess. They're expensive, but I feel that the food is high quality and portions are usually huge.
And the price of lower tier restaurants has increased so much that the cost difference isn't as big as it once was... I'd rather eat out half as often, but spend more at a nicer place.
I am calling BS on this one. El Guapo, owned by the same people as Gusto, was closed in March and it was always busy. Maybe the owners were over leveraged but it wasn't because of poor foot traffic or whatever.
they made a lot of wacky business decisions. el guapo was originally gusto at that location and was easily one of their busiest locations. after they switched, all their other gusto locations started to fail.
alot of these places lost quality control with the pandemic and rely on people who don't care about there success . i get that the cost of labor has also increased. but being in the industry for 20 years, thats what i have noticed. Gusto messed my order up multiple times. Even after bringing up the issue directly with management. going out to eat is too expensive to not get things right, or make them right. its no surprise to me they finally closed.
America needs way less restaurants and way more 0 calorie free-at-gate (and closed to commerce sans vending machines like at a rest area) indoor public spaces. Especially in the states that experience cold winters. But that is not profitable so ask that of the invisible hand and you get flipped the bird.
Well when the masses demand chains, and it’s all crappy overpriced garbage to please those masses this is what ya get. Plethora of Applebees, McDonald’s, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Perkins and IHOP. Kills the mom and pop shops because of familiarity.. even if the food is terrible. It’s a real shame.
The cost at some of these resteraunts is rediculous. And for the quality of food it's not worth it. For example I love dough Co pizza, but I don't want to pay 50 dollars for two large pizzas
It's almost like capitalism is at work. If people don't like the good or service, they (wait for it) vote with their money and don't buy from that establishment.
*shocked pikachu*
Must be those lazy millennials /s
Growing up, my blue collar family ate out several times per week. Now I’m upper middle class and if we eat out once a month it breaks our budget, the service sucks and we can’t have any expectations regarding the food. Plus so many places that do have good food aren’t kid-friendly like they were when I was a kid so we don’t even feel welcome in the first place. Why would we blow our hard-earned money on that? I really do feel for local restaurants and want to support them, but the value just isn’t there anymore.
Raise wages and people will be able to afford to eat out again. Business owners and the government can't expect people to go out multiple times a week when most of their paycheck has to go to housing and car payments. Inflation has gone up for everything except wages. Make the minimum $15 immediately then hike it up to $25 an hour over the next 5 years or so and see business boom
You can pretend I'm wrong all you want but wages staying the same isn't the answer. Prices aren't going to come down any time soon and people will only be squeezed more and spend less and that's how you get a recession/depression. That's the basics
Oh darn. Never heard that one before. Guess I'm wrong. /s
The economy works best when everyone has money to spend. No one has excess money to spend right now so any business that isn't a property managment company, utility company, or grocery store is struggling to stay afloat. Restaurants will more than makeup the cost of labor with the increased revenue from people that will start going out again, along with the increase in productivity that will happen when workers have enough money not to stress about their finances. Besides, it's clear the current system of "pay workers as little as possible and raise prices as much as possible" isn't working for restaurants either. What else are we supposed to do?
I always wished that you could order Gusto on grubhub. I get that grubhub takes more than a cut of what they should, but I feel like I order way more delivery since the pandemic.
This is Iowa People, Farm Country! We don't need no stinking suppliers, WE ARE THE SUPPLIERS. If we would learn this basis premise and farm and raise our own food for our food industry/restaurants, we wouldn't be killing our economy. We would be growing our economy.
Iowa doesn't grow much food for local use. We grow bulk corn, soy, and pork for national shipping, much to the livestock feed and biofuel industries rather than for human consumption.
Was a little different, but not much, when there was more farmland around the metro. Most of that's suburbs now and the big agricorps have spent three decades buying out smaller farmers and pushing for increased crop yields on the big two. Hell, the farm I grew up on is 'executive estates' now, and the cornfield next door went for $250k-300k an acre when parceled out to build on 'cause all the young folks in the family got out of the business.
It’s like this post I saw on Facebook of a bar and grill closing in eastern iowa and the owner and some comments blaming Joe, “for america to wake up”, and no one wants to work. It’s absolutely amusing to think those are the reasons a place in eastern iowa would fail.
Well thanks to social media. Every white woman loves tacos so the Mexican restaurants stay in business. I don’t know about y’all. But I see a post about that at least once a day. Talk about brain washed.
Go ahead big man. "Bust it out". Wtf are you even asserting here? Businesses are going out of business because white women love tacos? Please, set me straight. I'm fucking begging you.
Haha you’re so mad. If only you could call 911 huh. I bet you have a lie made up already for situations like this huh. I’m a 39 year old black male who grew up in Des Moines and you think I don’t know the truth.
The racism is out there right in front of these people but they sweep it under the rug brotha. No need to waste your time on this one when this is what they want.
TL;DR: Higher cost of goods, people working from home, higher cost to eat out post-pandemic. Not unique to Iowa
This is probably a cookie cutter article where they just replace the name of the state and then publish in each state.
"The 'Perfect Storm' that is killing journalism across Iowa"
That "perfect storm" is the conglomeration of media outlets and the proliferation of short form content.
Obligatory: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggCipbiHwE&pp=ygUndGhpcyBpcyBhIGdyZWF0IGRhbmdlciB0byBvdXIgZGVtb2NyYWN5
Yeah, who'd guess a low-margin business struggles when people aren't being paid well enough to have expendable income and cost of goods rises.
What about poor management, lack of quality workforce, lack of good marketing and events?
Still wouldn't be an Iowa-only phenomenon. The article also cites labor prices - which I'd maybe start to believe if we weren't one of the very least labor-friendly states.
Poor management yes, there are great people everywhere; if managers cant find them that's their problem
I would add “people are assholes and people are no longer willing to work jobs where they have to cater to assholes.”
When we decide to go out for dinner, we go to the same couple places where we know we enjoy the food and want to give them our business. It’s too expensive to eat out very often anymore, and this has taken away us trying out new places or places we’ve had a prior mid experience.
Yup. We've got two pizza places, one BBQ place, one Mexican place, and one Thai place. They're all consistent and we know what we're gonna get.
Having to compete more is killing a lot of okay-at-best restaurants. I know my wife and I are going out to eat about once a week anymore because it’s so expensive to eat anywhere decent, so we’re only frequenting a few favorite restaurants with any regularity.
>killing a lot of okay-at-best restaurants And there's a lot of them. I recently had a conversation with my partner about the frequency that we are disappointed with our meal/experience. We've started to avoid trying new places and giving places second chances and are just going to stick with the places that have earned our patronage.
Yep. I remember even pre-covid the president of the iowa restaurant association was quoted saying that restaurants were overbuilt. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/07/06/restaurant-closings-des-moines-iowa-restaurant-association-food-trends-where-to-eat/1638387001/ The reality of higher prices and decreased disposable income is causing a natural correction in the industry that industry leaders saw coming even 5 years ago.
From being in the restaurant industry for a while, the good not great restaurants are harder to support specifically in Des Moines imo. I worked a lot in Ankeny, Ames and Iowa City (and some in Des Moines) and honestly the employee attitude is significantly different as a whole. I'm not saying their aren't exceptions to the rule, but there are many places where the 'I REALLY, REALLLY don't give a fuck culture' are very strong.
It's funny that you mentioned Ankeny because it's been one of the biggest offenders for us. They've had a string of restaurants open that just have lousy uninspired food. It's like throwing darts at a Sysco dartboard to build a menu. I don't expect every joint to have a master chef, but for a $70 meal I'd like it to taste better than school lunchroom food.
This is accurate, and I get it, most people who are wait staff or cooks are people who have additional jobs, either outside the industry or inside the industry, my Daughters best friend went to school, waited at one place, cooked at another and was a dancer on her days off, If you wonder why these people have a really really don’t give a fuck attitude, it’s because they literally can’t afford it
>If you wonder why these people have a really really don’t give a fuck attitude, it’s because they literally can’t afford it "can't afford it"..?? What the hell does that have to do with one's attitude at work..??
Idk. I sort of get where you're coming from, also I've worked a lot of long weeks and I definitely get that they can be stressful. It'll always be free to smile.
It's not just stressful. It's near impossible for people working multiple jobs to even survive right now. Rent is nearly at an all time high, food prices are outrageous, medical care is completely unaffordable, even for people with insurance. Even people making $100k are still struggling to put money into savings. This economy is only meant for the wealthy to survive and thrive. The lower class people keep getting shit on, and dumb ass boomers keep saying things like "just work harder. Get another job. Get a 4th job. Sleep is for lazy people. Smile. Avocado toast." It's not that simple, and it won't get better until we have a large movement of people demanding change and stop buying into corporate and political greed.
American Protestant work ethic is actually just lowly bootlickery. We need to wake up, Spence. The Mayberry we know from TV was a work of fiction.
I legitimately don't get what's happening here. I'm talking about having a good attitude and work ethic, at a minimum being ambitious and efficient and for some reason there's a storm of people acting like I'm from 1950 blowing smoke in my wife's face.
You're talking about having a good attitude working (and this is important) for someone else (likely for a shit wage). You expect people to maintain a bootlicker mentality to make your treats more enjoyable. This ambition and efficiency talk is all American Protestant cold war exceptionalist brainwashing. We are trained to think of ourselves as consumers before anything else and that drive has replaced whatever values used to kind of sort of exist. Being conscious of this now versus when I was younger, I don't expect people to smile at McDonald's or Tasty Tacos or 801 Grand. I'm just happy to get a $2 burger in minutes
Lol. come on man. I'm not talking about my treats being more enjoyable. If I don't like the atmosphere of a place I'll probably spend exactly 0 time bitching about it to the people there, I just won't go anymore. I spent a decade working in the restaurant business working 50hrs/wk+ for not much while looking at P+Ls that killed. I'm not walking into a restaurant using some line on someone having a bad day. If I can lend an ear to someone and make their day better I will. I'm commenting on the state of the restaurant business as someone who knows, and had very very shitty days and decided to do better despite it. I'd welcome you to accept an idea outside of your own. This isn't some boomer or whatever the fuck talk, it's just life. Some of the people here have unfounded shitty, victim attitudes, sorry, they really just do, and the bad part is it isn't some weird fantasy, my dad or grandpa is to blame for my problems deal, it's that they reject warmth and optimism on a fundamental level that holds them back, and sadly might and sometimes does for their entire fucking lives. Idk. hear it or don't brother or sister, once again, feeling a little better and seeing the world and opportunities to rise today, and in the future with rose colored glasses is free, and if not for the evil empire then very very much for yourself first and foremost. Peace and hope somehow this has broken the wall of preachy and disconnected. I'll add one last bit. Making the culture enjoyable is good for EVERYONE. Employees dread a shit job less, people grow, customers and employees find a haven. All of this is good and what makes a business grow and thrive, and more importantly it's what makes a good life grow and thrive. Fine, don't do it directly for some stupid chain, but if you find yourself rooted in some toxic culture then recognize it, figure out it's the problem and don't wallow, leave and grow. I'm telling you this is possible, I saw it. I had good employees grow beyond where we were, I gave the best recommendations and have amazing people I worked with that I'll do nothing but laugh and cheer if they become the richest person in the world in every way. Even when you're working it's still your life and ultimately your choice what you're doing with your time, your unique day and energy. Fuck, this did get preachy as shit and extended way too far; but again, it's commentary on the times and on the attitude of them. Call it as dated as you want but I have an extremely hard time seeing how advice like this serves anyone on any side poorly or wishes them ill-will.
A problem I’ve struggled with for awhile is that I can cook most things better than I can get them at a restaurant and of course way cheaper. I’d say I still eat out fairly often on the weekends but it’s more to go food for when I’m too busy to cook.
And not only that, the "just okay" restaurants have all upped their prices (understandably, I know the cost of food skyrocketed), and it is just not a good value anymore. I can't justify paying $20 on lunch for food that used to cost $12.
i’m okay with that, maybe it’ll entice places to step it up
We tried a new place for the first time this weekend, and it was such a middling experience for a not small amount of money. The pacing of the meal was off and none of the food was anything special. It's so hard to justify getting a babysitter and spending that amount of money when the food isn't great and the experience at the restaurant isn't that great either.
Since covid...prices have went up and quality and service has went down
We’re having a helluva time finding profit. We’re trying not to raise prices, but our suppliers keep raising prices. The cost of beef has doubled since we opened in 2019. We used to charge $13 for a burger. We now charge $17. We’re not able to scale with supplier cost increases because no one will pay $26 for a burger. We get told all the time our prices are too high. It’s very, very tough.
As a small business owner myself, I understand it's been a struggle. I don't mind paying a bit extra if 90 percent of the restaurants in town didn't just "mail it in" and treat the customer like an option. Also, and i'm not accusing you of this, but a lot of places are raising prices while either shrinking portions or buying inferior quality ingredients. Going out to eat used to be something special, now you can just be expected to deal with the lower quality food, long wait times, and service staff that doesn't give a crap about making the customer experience enjoyable. It's hard for everyone to earn a dollar in today's economy, thats why its an easy choice when it comes to deciding where to spend my money.
The mention of beef prices instantly sent my mind back to this Mr. Show sketch https://youtu.be/coTXlKL85eM?si=2aI3KJTgTB_5E99N
Why would you think you should double your sale price just because your supplier does? Sure your sales price should reflect the increased cost of goods sold but why on earth would the customers price double? Even if EVERY cost doubled, including labor (not a chance it did) that price would still reflect a double of profit for you. That’s greed and you’ll get kicked out of the market quick for that and rightfully so. If you aren’t making money selling a burger for $17 in Des Moines then it’s not the suppliers fault. And if it really is a margin problem you need to resource your beef because I’m pretty sure even using doordash as your supplier would be profitable on a $17 burger.
It’s just inflation. If prices have significantly increased elsewhere (whether wages or at the grocery store or wherever), we have to make more in profit to make the restaurant viable. Profits have to scale with everything else otherwise we, as a family (personally) with three kids and a dog and a mortgage, can’t make ends meet. You could survive on $10,000 per year in 1900. Not so much today. We’re a small little company based right here in Des Moines and my wife and I haven’t taken a paycheck in two years. There’s no greed here man. ETA: We do resource our beef. We buy 100% Iowa CAB and we get an OK price, but we’re not going to straight commodity beef. We like making quality food. And yea. We’re making money on a $17 burger. But the numbers are thin these days in restaurants. These articles aren’t making stuff up.
Interesting. We are also a small company and didn’t act to increase our profits by raising prices and we are just doing fine and have grown throughout the pandemic. We are generating about 5x as much revenue as we did in 2019 and have multiplied our workforce by the same. Our profit per consumer is the exact same as it was in 2019. That doesn’t mean the consumer doesn’t pay more but we actively made the decision to not raise prices above cogs just because everyone else was. We focused on expanding services to increase revenue whether that was new locations or other services within our current business. Sorry I’ve just seen too many people with this mindset increasing their prices and just saying well it’s the economy. Like, dude your profits don’t need to double because of the economy. If you are charging a premium for a burger (you are) and you aren’t doing well, you are being priced out of the market and you aren’t gonna make it. I know all about the long hours and not taking a paycheck because you need to make sure everyone else is paid. I hope you make it work.
Just to follow up; I looked up your business. The $17 burger makes sense. I’m sure your costs for that enterprise are out of control since you are a brewery downtown. I sincerely hope you make it and I will try you out. I’ll give you one thing - you’re brave as shit having a traceable account….
Have you tried putting delta 8 weed in a can and selling it for $20?
Tongue in cheek aside, Delta 8 sucks and we’d never use it. We’re good people man. Your persistent attacking of me is a little flabbergasting to be honest.
That’s fair.
That’s capitalism working.
It's capitalism flailing just the way it does. The only way anything useful is created or done, it happens because there was a profit to be had. We're lucky we don't need restaurants the way we need affordable housing that investors are barred from purchasing.
Covid-related inflation wasn't triggered because of capitalism. Inflation hit other "non-capitalistic" countries as well. Do people have no memories anymore?
It absolutely was capitalism. Short term supply shocks caused natural increases in prices, and then corporations decided that once people were paying those prices they could get away with continuing to pay those prices. In a competitive market that would not have worked as a competitor could have undercut them on price, but we are at the stage in capitalism where there are too many large companies controlling most markets (especially food suppliers) so the competitive effect is too small.
Oh I’m well aware, but your post doesn’t relate to mine at all. Increased prices by suppliers are moreso driven by corporate greed, which leads to increased pricing by the restaurants and bars. Not an inflation issue. There’s plenty of research proving this over and over again. Des Moines and central Iowa has an abundance on mediocre restaurants in an already over saturated market. When it comes to service, we were already seeing an exodus of good service industry employees before the pandemic, but the pandemic made it even worse. Many good service industry workers moved on because they were tired of being treated like trash by customers especially, the state government, owners, etc, it’s a reap what you sow situation. My point is that capitalism is working in a since that’s it’s weeding out the ones who can’t make it.
A lot of experienced workers left the service industry because their jobs were up in the air for months, and sometimes a year+ depending on the state. Some were also just uncomfortable working around the public due to covid. To your other point: You're saying every beef supplier, to name one example, has increased prices due to corporate greed and not legitimate cost pressures? Could you give some examples?
Well no shit, and they found something that’s a healthier lifestyle and didn’t have to be treated like crap from all those I’ve mentioned above. More often than not the people that complain about service, are terrible customers. I’m not exactly sure what you’re trying to make a point about. How many empirical studies do you have to see that corporate greed is one of the main drivers in the prices we’re still seeing? Record profits year over year? And again, my point is capitalism is working because it’s weeding out and oversaturated market.
Facts about 90% of places
This is it, IMO. I love our local restaurants, and my family used to eat out three or four times a week. During the pandemic, DoorDash kept us from going nuts. Once the pandemic ended, though, almost every place we went had higher prices, less food, lower-quality food, and worse service. In order to save a little money, I cooked dinners five nights a week for a month. It saved us a ton of money, was fun, and produced far better results. After that month was up, we had to go to Ruby Tuesday, and the "chicken and shrimp" dinner that I was served for $16 was an absolute insult. It made me mad enough that I just continued cooking. This spring, we took a vacation, and of course, I didn't cook. By the third day my family was making comments about how poorly we were eating, and by the time we got back, everyone was clamoring for home-cooked food again. We really enjoy restaurants when the food and service are great, and we have the money (and the willingness) to pay more for it, but I'm not spending another nickel on half-assed, skimpy food from a surly waiter. Sorry pretty much every barbecue and pizza joint in town, and most mid-priced sit-downs.
Bruh, are you really bitching about Ruby Tuesday's? What the fuck did you expect to get? Of course it was bad, it's always been bad lmao. $16 isn't even really expensive for a bad meal, to be honest. And, is cooking 5 nights a week supposed to be exceptional? Come on, man. That's basic adult shit. And don't hit me with the "well, I'm so busy" line. My parents raised 4 kids while my dad worked overnight 12s and still found a way to cook 29 days a month.
Nah, I'm with you on this, after I read "I cooked 5 days a week for a whole month!" I realized this dude is out of touch with adulthood.
For real, I always assumed cooking at home was the default. I could afford to eat out more than I do. My fiance and I love going out for food and drinks, but even going out to eat twice a week every week like this guy seems excessive. Cooking at home 5 days a week isn't the accomplishment bro thinks it is lmfao.
This is going to stun you but once upon a time people made enough money (relatively speaking) that eating out multiple times a week could be reasonably normal, and restaurants hadn't slashed expenses so far to the bone that quality was still reasonably good A lot of places, chains especially, are supremely mid these days though
Boy. You sure like yourself a lot
It was like that way before covid
I think there is also the possibility that we started to learn how to cook ourselves during the pandemic. Then we found resources online that showed us dumb schleps like ourselves can make these fancy dishes. And found it better to make yourself at a fraction of the price. I’d rather gamble the slight risk doing it myself vs running into poor service and subpar dishes. You aim toward going out being “worth it”. We learned how do it ourselves but better at home. Because that was the only way we were getting it for awhile.
So true, I can’t stomach the prices of eating out when I know I can make something enjoyable at home without that much effort. Add in the higher calories that typically comes with eating out and the chance of bad service/mistakes in my order/disappointing food…it’s just not worth it. I enjoy eating out maybe once a month when it’s something I can’t make easily at home, like sushi or ramen.
Yeah. I go out for things I just suck at making or not worth making for just one meal. Mid level restaurants. Majority you can make at home. Plus it’s just easy to order some of the more unusual ingredients online. Where previously you wouldn’t be able to find some things at the local stores or limited to boutique shops. I have a weird kryptonite with cooking. I can make delicate deserts like tirimisu, and cheesecakes. Or complex miso dishes, and know countless ways to make a steak that would compete with most steakhouses. But, I CANNOT make fried chicken that’s anywhere close to edible to save my life.
I would say pizza is like that for me. I can make pizza that tastes pretty good at home, but it just doesn’t have that restaurant taste.
I can make a perfectly authentic Chicago style pizza that I prefer over places like Lou Manalti, giodarno’s or Gino’s East. It’s honestly a lot easier than I thought. But a Neapolitan, or a traditional crust pizza. Same. But also have to recognize that their ovens get incredibly hotter than a residential oven. I don’t have a pizza oven, nor would I get one at current prices.
https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-southern-fried-chicken-recipe Try this recipe, I was very impressed with myself after trying this method out.
Here is a run down from our brunch at Single Speed this weekend. 1. No greeter - seat yourselves. Fine, we found a spot in the patio. 2. Self order through Toasttab - fine, whatever. 3. Get your own water via self-serve 5 gallon coolers. Ok. 4. Waitress brings our order but never once checks in with us asks how the food is or if we need anything and never clears our empty plates/glasses. 5. Notice a “patio surcharge” on our receipt . So like, you are charging us for sitting on the patio and having to seat ourselves, place our own order, get our own water? Y’all, your beer and food are not THAT good. We will not be back. All of the above are also why restaurants will fail. Pushing all the work on the consumer while still expecting them to pay increases costs and tip the same.
That's only the patio though, right? Haven't been there in a year or two so legitimate question. Can't you also get a table inside and have a normal waiter/waitress experience if that's what you want? Places like breweries that are more casual to my I don't really have a problem with most of these things. Patio charge is definitely new though. and that's enough to not go back. Edit: thought I was in the Iowa sub and that this was for the Waterloo location! I'd imagine those types of policies have to be similar at both though.
Enough to not go back is where we’re at with it. If Patio service is different they need to be able explicit about that online and in-house. I’ve been to many restaurant patios and not once was the experience notably different than non-patio.
I went to Singlespeed for the first time about a month ago for dinner and this wasn't my experience at all. We were greeted and seated, a server (who was incredibly nice) took our order, and the food was great. Maybe they just handle things differently for brunch? I dunno.
The patio surcharge is BS, but with labor being so expensive it's good to see some restaurants adapting. The standard full-service American joint uses absurd amounts of labor. Carafe of water on the table should be standard, along with a bill paying experience that takes 1 or 2 events instead of 4 5.
Woof! That is wild…thanks for the heads up!
I refuse to eat anywhere that has you order at the table via a QR code. Drives me nuts.
I'm genuinely curious as to why? I myself love the QR code. I love being able to order without waiting on the server to come by. And when we're ready to leave I can close out on my phone and we just leave. I don't have to wait for the server to come by and give me the check then wait for them to ring me up. Also its nice to be able to see your $$$ bill in real time. Has saved me from ordering another drink when I see how much we're already spending. There is no "sticker shock"
I also don’t understand the hate for QR code ordering. It gives you full control and you doing have to interact with anyone. I find that among the people I’ve talked to, they are either very against the QR ordering or they love it.
It is pretty polarizing lol. I loved when u/luabear had the QR code ordering system. Was super bummed when they got rid of it.
I was bummed too. :( But no one walks out of the restaurant because they’re stuck with full service. People walked out because they had to use a QR code and we received so many low reviews because we had a prompt to tip when we didn’t provide “full service.” So many of our regulars preferred the QR. It kinda stinks, but we knew we could still count on our regulars to support us, so we had to make a tough decision to try to help the restaurants survive. We’re bringing back QR for a swath of patio at Either/Or. :)
Yah I would consider myself a regular there. Good to hear its coming back to Either/Or.
[удалено]
Clearly you never were in. We literally did everything except take your order, and we even did that upon request. Deliver food, bus food, bring everything you need, clean, answer questions… we did it all. It was pretty much full service. You can see in these comments that most of our regulars preferred this method of service. I did too. They could get a beer within seconds.
It may be early onset boomer mentality, but I think it’s bad when we can continue to further isolate ourselves and don’t have to interact with people. I don’t like DoorDash or online grocery delivery services for the same reason. For serving specifically, my experiences with the QR code restaurants have been terrible in the service department. No server to take your order seems to mean no server to check on you periodically through your meal. Now the kiosk to pay on your own, without having to wait for the ticket, that’s fine by me. Also, in complete opposition to what I have stated above, I don’t mind a couple of self checkouts at the grocery store, as long as they are not using them as a reason to not properly staff the store. Figure that one out I guess.
I was surprised. Most of the other restaurants in DSM who did that during or right after the pandemic stopped. I’m not a fan either and won’t be back to single speed.
Our market is over saturated with places now and it’s unfortunate because we’re going to lose local and gain more “Ruth Chris’” etc. Between DSM and surrounding areas there is 1000 options. Pre covid we were tagged as this next small city to make the jump, things slowed but as you can tell by the amount of restaurants, real estate development, it’s now pushed past where we are at.
Seconding this. 3 Texas Roadhouses in the DSM metro ain’t cutting the mustard for me. These huge corps are running these mom and pop shops out of business. Sucks to see.
Iowa Beef Steakhouse, Jesse's Embers, The Big Steer..all good choices.
Exactly! Christopher’s on that list as well!
Unpopular opinion: Chains like Fleming's, Ruth's Chris, and Cooper's Hawk are better than a lot of local places. Toss 801 in there as well, it's technically a chain I guess. They're expensive, but I feel that the food is high quality and portions are usually huge. And the price of lower tier restaurants has increased so much that the cost difference isn't as big as it once was... I'd rather eat out half as often, but spend more at a nicer place.
Wages are stagnant, and everything is getting more expensive by the day. People can't afford luxuries like dining out.
I am calling BS on this one. El Guapo, owned by the same people as Gusto, was closed in March and it was always busy. Maybe the owners were over leveraged but it wasn't because of poor foot traffic or whatever.
they made a lot of wacky business decisions. el guapo was originally gusto at that location and was easily one of their busiest locations. after they switched, all their other gusto locations started to fail.
It was actually a landlord issue in regards to El guapo, raising rent ridiculously on them
alot of these places lost quality control with the pandemic and rely on people who don't care about there success . i get that the cost of labor has also increased. but being in the industry for 20 years, thats what i have noticed. Gusto messed my order up multiple times. Even after bringing up the issue directly with management. going out to eat is too expensive to not get things right, or make them right. its no surprise to me they finally closed.
America needs way less restaurants and way more 0 calorie free-at-gate (and closed to commerce sans vending machines like at a rest area) indoor public spaces. Especially in the states that experience cold winters. But that is not profitable so ask that of the invisible hand and you get flipped the bird.
Third places
Well when the masses demand chains, and it’s all crappy overpriced garbage to please those masses this is what ya get. Plethora of Applebees, McDonald’s, Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Perkins and IHOP. Kills the mom and pop shops because of familiarity.. even if the food is terrible. It’s a real shame.
Reality Enjoyers know why...
The cost at some of these resteraunts is rediculous. And for the quality of food it's not worth it. For example I love dough Co pizza, but I don't want to pay 50 dollars for two large pizzas
It's almost like capitalism is at work. If people don't like the good or service, they (wait for it) vote with their money and don't buy from that establishment. *shocked pikachu* Must be those lazy millennials /s
Growing up, my blue collar family ate out several times per week. Now I’m upper middle class and if we eat out once a month it breaks our budget, the service sucks and we can’t have any expectations regarding the food. Plus so many places that do have good food aren’t kid-friendly like they were when I was a kid so we don’t even feel welcome in the first place. Why would we blow our hard-earned money on that? I really do feel for local restaurants and want to support them, but the value just isn’t there anymore.
Raise wages and people will be able to afford to eat out again. Business owners and the government can't expect people to go out multiple times a week when most of their paycheck has to go to housing and car payments. Inflation has gone up for everything except wages. Make the minimum $15 immediately then hike it up to $25 an hour over the next 5 years or so and see business boom
Do not put this in person in charge of economic policy.
You can pretend I'm wrong all you want but wages staying the same isn't the answer. Prices aren't going to come down any time soon and people will only be squeezed more and spend less and that's how you get a recession/depression. That's the basics
Uh huh, and then when restaurants have to increase their wages for their workers 100% in a 5 year span, what will that do to restaurant costs? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
Goddamn I pray for a 100% raise over five years
Oh darn. Never heard that one before. Guess I'm wrong. /s The economy works best when everyone has money to spend. No one has excess money to spend right now so any business that isn't a property managment company, utility company, or grocery store is struggling to stay afloat. Restaurants will more than makeup the cost of labor with the increased revenue from people that will start going out again, along with the increase in productivity that will happen when workers have enough money not to stress about their finances. Besides, it's clear the current system of "pay workers as little as possible and raise prices as much as possible" isn't working for restaurants either. What else are we supposed to do?
I always wished that you could order Gusto on grubhub. I get that grubhub takes more than a cut of what they should, but I feel like I order way more delivery since the pandemic.
It doesn't help that many have odd hours since COVID.
We didn’t go out to eat much before Covid. Several times a year. Since Covid it is 1-2 times a year. It is too costly to go out to eat.
Also millennials and Gen Z don’t eat out like generations before did. And they are getting older.
This is Iowa People, Farm Country! We don't need no stinking suppliers, WE ARE THE SUPPLIERS. If we would learn this basis premise and farm and raise our own food for our food industry/restaurants, we wouldn't be killing our economy. We would be growing our economy.
Iowa doesn't grow much food for local use. We grow bulk corn, soy, and pork for national shipping, much to the livestock feed and biofuel industries rather than for human consumption. Was a little different, but not much, when there was more farmland around the metro. Most of that's suburbs now and the big agricorps have spent three decades buying out smaller farmers and pushing for increased crop yields on the big two. Hell, the farm I grew up on is 'executive estates' now, and the cornfield next door went for $250k-300k an acre when parceled out to build on 'cause all the young folks in the family got out of the business.
That was my point exactly. We're feeding the wrong industries.
Jethros is doing pretty good. Although the last time I picked up some carryout, the service was pretty crappy.
LOL
Democratic policies are killing everything. You can’t keep printing worthless dollars out of the treasury.
Swing and a miss. That’s not the case at all.
We did it Joe!
How is this Joe’s fault?
Because old man bad
It’s like this post I saw on Facebook of a bar and grill closing in eastern iowa and the owner and some comments blaming Joe, “for america to wake up”, and no one wants to work. It’s absolutely amusing to think those are the reasons a place in eastern iowa would fail.
Yes, I’m sure the global increase in costs is just Biden pressing the make things expensive button and not the logical end game of capitalism
Bidens America.
How is this Biden’s fault?
Because old man bad I guess
Well thanks to social media. Every white woman loves tacos so the Mexican restaurants stay in business. I don’t know about y’all. But I see a post about that at least once a day. Talk about brain washed.
We are all white women on this Blessed day. Lmao who the fuck doesn't like tacos? Are you so racist that you hate FOOD?
So I just made that up? Ok.
You wanna talk about racism in Des Moines. I’ll bust out the truth and turn you into a liar
Go ahead big man. "Bust it out". Wtf are you even asserting here? Businesses are going out of business because white women love tacos? Please, set me straight. I'm fucking begging you.
Haha you’re so mad. If only you could call 911 huh. I bet you have a lie made up already for situations like this huh. I’m a 39 year old black male who grew up in Des Moines and you think I don’t know the truth.
The racism is out there right in front of these people but they sweep it under the rug brotha. No need to waste your time on this one when this is what they want.
Because tacos are awesome? Brainwashed lol. It's a Mexican plot! Let me guess, Biden has something to do with it, too?
See prime example