Food Prices Are OUT OF CONTROL | Americans Are Breaking Down

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]What happened to Panera Bread? $71.62 for three sandwiches. We're in Miami [music] and we just wasted what, $500 on dinner? $650. Someone sent me a picture of this Five Guys menu from the early 2010s and almost had a panic attack. Food price inflation is real. The price of food in the US has gotten out of control. Let's see what these guys have to say about it.

[00:00:24]>> Someone sent me a picture of this Five Guys menu from the early 2010s and almost had a panic attack.

[00:00:31]Because in what warped reality have we shifted to?

[00:00:35]In what realm did we end up in where the prices have more than doubled in a little over 10 years? You're telling me there was a time period where I can go get a burger, fry, and drink from Five Guys and not eat it to bankruptcy?

[00:00:48]I looked on the app, a burger is almost $12. That's over a 160% increase over a decade. So, if I add two Carry the one.

[00:00:59]THIS [ __ ] AIN'T ADDING UP.

[00:01:00]I COULD MAKE MINIMUM wage back then and get a burger for just one measly hour of work.

[00:01:06]If I made minimum wage right now and walked in that [ __ ] they might call the cops. At first, I thought this was AI, but then I thought about it for a second. Even a computer couldn't compute these type of prices.

[00:01:16]It couldn't fathom the level of inflation and capitalistic greed in our society. And a Five Guys burger sounds so good right now, too.

[00:01:25]But I'll never financially recover from that. Spot on. He's absolutely spot on with this take. The pricing has gotten out of control and it's gotten to this point because we've allowed it to. Our insatiable appetite has allowed restaurants to continue increasing their prices to unsustainable levels and that's why a lot of them are going out of business. Folks are finally waking up and deciding to say, "We're not going to eat out. We're going to save money and eat at home or find cheaper alternatives." And I'm glad to see it.

[00:01:49]On the other hand, however, there are some folks who will continue to get scammed. Look at this next clip where this couple spends over 600 bucks for absolutely nothing. We're in Miami and we just wasted what, $500 on dinner?

[00:02:03]$650.

[00:02:05]We spent $500 to reserve a table and we got chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, and chicken tacos that fell apart.

[00:02:13]>> Oh, yeah, not even a full burger, sliders.

[00:02:16]Did you think it was worth what you paid to reserve the table? It was criminal.

[00:02:21]They had us sitting there in a bar eating bar food for $650.

[00:02:27]Yeah, you were literally in a bar sitting on like a couch. You did not have a table. So, if your food fell, it fell on your lap.

[00:02:38]But, was it good? Did you enjoy the night? I enjoyed the music part of the evening.

[00:02:43]>> was so good. The singer was incredible.

[00:02:48]He sounded like Frank Sinatra. He was a really good Italian singer.

[00:02:52]>> we can get tickets to go see a concert, but the food was [ __ ] Oh, and then the best was when we were ready for dessert, she told us what?

[00:03:02]Our 2-hour time slot for the experience had expired and we had to move tables to allow someone else to occupy it.

[00:03:13]>> you rather pay up now and go home or do you want to sit over there?" And pointed us to a the table across from us. And she goes, "You can order dessert and one drink, only one drink."

[00:03:25]And remember, it's not really a table.

[00:03:27]It's just a little tiny You're in a bar.

[00:03:30]In a bar, right. So, we moved from one bar couch to the other bar couch and we had a little hazelnut bomb that spilled all over my dress.

[00:03:43]So, anyway, that was fun. Come to Miami, the places are great. To be honest, going out to nice places in Miami is going to cost you an arm and a leg.

[00:03:50]Trust me, as somebody who lived there for just under 6 years, I know this all too well. You don't have to go out to fancy restaurants in Miami to have a good time, but if you are going to go to one, be prepared to spend an arm and a leg. And nine times out of 10, it simply isn't worth it. Ask yourself though, why are you really doing it? Is it because you genuinely like the food or you're going there to be seen with the right people or you're doing it to take a picture on Instagram to be seen by some people who probably don't even like you.

[00:04:15]If that's the case, kill that habit ASAP cuz you're going to end up broke and when you do, no one's coming to save you. And all those people who you think are impressive, they don't really care about you. This can be said about other cities, but it's particularly true about Miami. Trust me.

[00:04:30]Now, I'm not saying that's why this couple went, but I see this a lot and this is a bad habit that a lot of people need to break. But having said that, it's not just high-end or exclusive restaurants that are scamming people.

[00:04:41]Listen to what this guy has to say about an affordable restaurant. Just a quick one before getting into the next clip.

[00:04:46]If you're enjoying this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. YouTube is telling me most of you aren't subscribed. Let's change that. What happened to Panera Bread? $71.62 for three sandwiches, two of them that were grilled cheese, and two soups.

[00:05:04]$71.62.

[00:05:06]Are you kidding me? Like, I know, guys, the Chipotle video, the McDonald's video, all these other videos of these places going crazy, but like Panera Bread was something where you could go and get like a half a sandwich, a little cup of soup, and a drink for like under 20 bucks. Is this how completely out of touch these companies have gotten when it comes to pricing this stuff?

[00:05:30]Like, my Chipotle order went crazy. That video has 4 million views in a week because it was $52 for two bowls and two drinks. And then somebody sent me this today, my friend, and said, "This guy went to Panera Bread and he has a video with three sandwiches, two of them that were just plaino grilled cheese, and two soups for $71.62."

[00:05:53]And it's like at this point in time, like, I think these companies have completely lost touch so far with reality that they just don't understand.

[00:06:00]And then you see all these places, "Oh, we're in bankruptcy right now. Oh, we're closing locations right now." Like it's a mystery. Like Denny's had an announcement here recently that they're closing tons of locations. These This going to keep happening, these cycles.

[00:06:12]Now, the companies that actually figured this out, like Chili's, BJ's, Red Lobsters that have dropped to a bunch of low-price options, they still have more expensive meals, but they dropped to a whole bunch of like under $20 meals for regular people, they've figured it out because this is not like some incredible like restaurant. It's Panera Bread or Chipotle or McDonald's. Like, you you guys have all lost your minds when you make meals for normal people cost over 30 to $40 a meal. Like, it's not worth that much. The food quality is not that high. Don't kid yourselves. So, the only reason that we grab this stuff is for convenience instead of the grocery store, which is also ridiculous if we're if we're really, you know, honest. But, this is crazy and these places are going to keep complaining on TV like McDonald's CEO was on TV last week saying, "Oh, people aren't eating out breakfast at McDonald's anymore because it's a bad sign for our economy." No, it's because you're charging people a ridiculous amount of money for crap food. Now, look, I I'm I'm a former fat dude, still semi-fat dude if I'm honest, but the the real truth here is that like we can't keep paying this stuff. These places that keep making the mistakes are just going to keep losing money, keep losing market share, go out of business cuz there's a lot of companies now that have started to figure out like you got to give people some value back because this this behavior is nuts, guys. Tell me if I'm wrong. He's absolutely right.

[00:07:30]This is unacceptable behavior. What are you really paying for? Half of these restaurants have automated payouts, they have low-paid workers, the ingredients are basic. So, what are you really paying for? Ask yourself. It's a complete scam. There are some people that are going to say, "We need to charge these prices." But let's be realistic. Is this acceptable? It isn't.

[00:07:50]We're not getting good value for money.

[00:07:52]Those days are gone and these restaurants need to go back to the days of providing actual value. I can't remember the last time I went out and had a cheap meal that I thought was actually going to be cheap.

[00:08:02]You're getting scammed everywhere you look. Having said that, there's some restaurant owners who think they're offering good value. Listen to this clip.

[00:08:10]>> The culture of going out to eat in America is getting absolutely destroyed.

[00:08:14]You used to be able to go out to eat, get a drink, get an appetizer, get a meal, maybe get a dessert, 22 bucks.

[00:08:19]Those days are dead. I live in LA. My restaurant's in Los Angeles. If you want to go out to eat with a friend and grab lunch, you're spending 60, maybe 70 bucks.

[00:08:28]You throw a mocktail, cocktail in there, you're at a $100. You're already done.

[00:08:32]You have families of four, families of five that want to go out to eat and the minimum they spend is 150, 160 dollars to feed their family of four.

[00:08:40]Service is down, portions are down, quality is down.

[00:08:45]Everything is down, prices are up, people are aggravated, people are sick of it, and I understand that.

[00:08:50]McDonald's, Denny's, IHOP, your go-to fast casual QSR spaces that were great for for budget-friendly meals are smoked. You're spending $40 at Denny's now. I want nothing more than reduce my prices, but I can't when my trash goes up $500 in a year, my property taxes, my unsecured property taxes, the POS system fees go up, vendor prices go up, food prices go up, they're charging me for gas now. Like, it's getting bonkers. I went to dinner the other night and they served me like 3 oz of pasta for $54. I said, "Are you guys out of your mind?

[00:09:22]You don't even make the pasta here.

[00:09:24]Like, you're buying the pasta fresh and making it and it's tomato sauce. You're charging $54." DoorDash, Uber Eats, don't even get me started on DoorDash and Uber Eats. That that's a scam in itself. I don't know. In my restaurant, we keep the portions big, the quality extremely high. We try our best, we do our best, but you know, we have to bend to the world around us, essentially. I hope this is true. I really do. In any case, what would be interesting to know is what you guys think about this topic. Are you experiencing the same? Let me know down in the comments below. If you've enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already. I'm going to link another video on screen. As always, I'll see you in the next one. Peace.