Why your burger costs so much

Yo, why's my burger so expensive? Look, it's no secret that prices are up. A Whopper from Burger King costs $8 today. 20 years ago, it cost $2.50.

And I know what you're thinking, that's just inflation. But processed food prices went up 14% last year, far outscaling the 6.5% jump in the consumer price index. So what's actually happening?

Well, private equity invested almost $100 billion into restaurants between 2014 and 2024. One of the ways they are able to buy so much is because they use something called a leveraged buyout to borrow a huge chunk of the change and then put it onto the restaurants' balance sheets as debt. To pay off that debt, they jack up menu prices, fire their experienced workers, and even source different ingredients to cut costs.

And those ingredients tend to come from... one place. (Sysco: private equity bought that too.) That's why all your food isn't just more expensive, it tastes the same everywhere.